'It's just disgusting': Eurydice Dixon's Princes Park memorial vandalised
A memorial for Melbourne comedian Eurydice Dixon at the site where she was killed in Princes Park, Carlton has been vandalised, as thousands of people prepare to attend a vigil there in her honour.
Firefighters used a high-pressure hose in the darkness of Monday morning to clear away the thick white paint that was used to create a lewd symbol near the floral tributes left in her memory.
It is believed the offensive material, reportedly 25 metres in size, was deliberately painted next to the floral memorial on the soccer pitch where she was found dead last Wednesday.
Firefighters used brooms to scrub away leftover paint residue and surrounded the flowers with a circle of absorbent sand to stop water from destroying dozens of tributes.
Police discovered the graffiti just before 4am Monday during a patrol of the area.
Ms Dixon was brutally attacked and killed last week as she walked home after a gig at the Highland Bar in the CBD.
Her body was found by a passer-by in the middle of a soccer pitch at Princes Park about 2.40am last Wednesday.
The aspiring comedian was attacked by a man she did not know, police say.
Jaymes Todd, 19, has been charged with her rape and murder.
Her death led to a public outpouring of grief and piles of flowers were left in Princes Park.
A vigil is set to take place there on Monday night, starting at 5.30pm.
One of the vigil's organisers, Megan Bridger-Darling, told reporters at the scene the event was about providing a place for the community to come together to show "respect, love and solidarity", and to reclaim the public space where she was found.
"It's a way of saying this is our park, and we feel safe here, this is our soccer pitch … this is our area, and you can't take that away through fear," Ms Bridger-Darling said.
"I think in the last 12 months, with the #MeToo movement and women standing up and saying, 'OK, enough, no more,' the line has been drawn. Unfortunately it's taken this tragedy to have this conversation."
Sue Murray, who walks around the park every morning, said she was devastated when she heard the tribute on the soccer pitch had been vandalised.
“It’s just disgusting,” she said. “To do that after what happened last week, you really are the lowest of the low."
"People are suffering enough without adding to it and people have been here showing their respects. It’s just sad to think you can’t go about doing things without looking over your shoulder.”
Ms Murray said she would be returning to Princes Park for the vigil on Monday evening with her two young daughters.
“Like so many other people we are heartbroken about this,” Ms Murray said.
“If you come around Princes Park enough you get to know people and there is a bit of a community who come here and something like this does distress people for a long time."
Additional vigils are expected to take place Monday in regional Victoria, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Launceston.
Organisers of the event have suggested people who can't attend the vigil light a candle in their window from 6pm to 6.30pm "in memory of all those who haven't made it home" and share the hashtag #lightthewayhome.
Anyone with further information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.