General News
11 April, 2024
Maryborough to lose High Street store after vandals target owner’s home
After his rental property was aggressively attacked twice in the last four weeks, traumatised local and High Street shop owner Scott McCardle, has decided to close his business and leave Maryborough. Popular furniture store, Decor Room, will soon...

After his rental property was aggressively attacked twice in the last four weeks, traumatised local and High Street shop owner Scott McCardle, has decided to close his business and leave Maryborough.
Popular furniture store, Decor Room, will soon close its doors to the public following a series of “horrific” incidents faced by Mr McCardle — who has been running the outlet for the past seven years.
He moved into his Harrison Street rental only six weeks ago — and within a fortnight of his arrival, the first episode occurred.
Around 10.30 pm on a weekend, Mr McCardle heard a group of people outside his house and suddenly, the front door was being kicked and bashed.
The group then started banging on the bedroom windows before finally leaving.
Ten minutes later, Mr McCardle went outside to investigate and spotted the group of four in the distance — he “ran back” and called the police.
“While I was on the phone, it sounded like somebody was on the roof of the house but the next morning I realised that they had been throwing rocks,” Mr McCardle said.
“At the time, I just thought it was a [bunch] of young kids going home, maybe they had been drinking, either way I didn’t think much more of it.”
About a month later, on the night of April 6 at 11.30 pm, Mr McCardle was resting in bed — he had been scheduled for a surgery the day after.
While in his bedroom, he heard a “loud group of teenagers” in front of his house and Mr McCardle recalls one of them saying “go bash down that door”.
Before he knew it, Mr McCardle had jumped out of bed and grabbed a golf club as a precautionary measure, “if they got in, I needed to defend myself,” he said.
Furious pounding continued to rattle the main door until the assailants eventually walked away.
“I came out with the club, they could see me — they were heading up Harrison Street at this stage,” Mr McCardle said.
“[Again] I went back inside and called the police. While I was on the phone, the rocks started but this time they were big ones.”
The barrage of stones targeted his car, the bedroom window as well as the garage door.
“My car’s windscreen is completely shattered and [everything else] is chipped,” Mr McCardle said.
“It was all so horrific. There was also the fear of them actually getting in the house since it was a big group and I didn’t know who they were or what they were capable of.”
Next morning, expecting the Maryborough Police Station to be open at 7.30 am, Mr McCardle went down to file a report.
However, he said the reception was closed, even after he returned at 8.30 and 9.30 am.
“I called in after that and I was told the station would not open [that day] because [they were] short staffed — I [thought] that was quite concerning, especially with what happened last night,” Mr McCardle said.
He described the conversation that ensued with the officer on the phone as being “dismissive”, “condescending” and “arrogant”.
“[It’s] not what one expects under the circumstances at hand,” Mr McCardle said.
That’s when he decided “enough is enough”.
“When you don’t get the support from the police that is supposed to be protecting the community — [it] leaves you feeling that they have no concern for safety in this town,” he said.
“After that [interaction], my immediate [thought] was that ‘I am not prepared to stay in the town’.”
Everything that transpired in the last week has led to Mr McCardle expediting his departure — at considerable cost to himself.
“Even as a grown man this whole thing has been traumatising — I can’t do it anymore.” he said.
“I’ve found another rental in a [different town] and there’s extra expenses associated with that. There might also be a break lease fee and I hope under the circumstances [they’re] a bit more lenient.
“I’ve got some very special people here in Maryborough that I’ve met through the shop, but I’m done with the town.”
On Wednesday, this week, Decor Room announced its closure on Facebook and the post was met with close to 100 comments of support for the business — with many disappointed the town was losing a prominent shop.
Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident and have also said the front office was closed on Sunday until 9.30 am due to “resourcing” issues.
At this stage, it is believed that a number of males in their late teens are responsible.
Anyone with information or CCTV footage about the incident is urged to contact Maryborough Police on 5460-3300 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.