A mere week after Valletta’s Hastings Garden was opened by the prime minister after receiving a full facelift, the picturesque public garden fell victim to senseless acts of vandalism between Wednesday night and yesterday morning.

The Resources and Infrastructure Ministry, which had undertaken the restoration of the historic garden, condemned the acts and labelled the vandals “irresponsible people”.

The Nationalist Party also condemned the attack and asked the police to do their utmost to bring the culprits to justice and on the general public to come forward with any information they may have about the incident.

New uplighters were destroyed, while new pavements and Rawdon’s monument were sprayed, in poorly spelled Maltese, with disparaging remarks in red paint.

The garden commemorates British General Francis Rawdon, Marquis of Hastings, who served as governor of Malta for three years before his death in 1826. Rawdon was interred in Malta and the funerary monument damaged in the vandal attack was built by his family.