Sydney parents’ anguish over ‘vandalism’ of son’s memorial plaque

A young Sydney couple have slammed a “God-bothering” vandal for supergluing a crucifix to their son’s memorial plaque last week.

Edwina and Anthony Symonds’ son, Seb, died five years ago, aged just 10 months, after experiencing a catastrophic seizure in his cot.

The couple and their other two young children, Elodie and Dash, visit Seb’s memorial plaque by Narrabeen Lagoon often.

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“Saying hello to our little buddy at the lake is somewhat of a family ritual, where his brother and sister can play with him,” Anthony wrote.

But on a recent visit they discovered someone had stuck the crucifix on the plaque.

Edwina slammed the religious vandal in an open letter posted to a Northern Beaches community group on Facebook.

“To the God-botherer that vandalised our son’s plaque by supergluing a cross to it,” Edwina wrote.

“I imagine somewhere in whatever religion you choose to follow, there is some sort of rule that says, ‘Don’t be a lowlife by wrecking other people’s property’.

”If not, there should be.”

She noted the vandal likely had the best intentions, but both Edwina and Anthony slammed the act as “narrow-minded”.

“Religion is a nice ideal. You are entitled to your beliefs and no one should take issue with that. I certainly don’t,” Edwina wrote.

“I am sure you had some lovely thoughts when you were sitting with Seb, like: ‘God took this baby to a better place’; or, that ‘He had a plan for this child’; or even the classic ‘Everything happens for a reason’.

“Cool story, but please go away. Seb doesn’t need you to save him. He died already. He can’t be saved. His short life was glorious and doesn’t require your attention.

“Everyone has a choice. Don’t make YOUR choice something that other people have to clean up after.”

Anthony added: “Keep away from Seb’s little playground. Keep your ideals out of other people’s lives unless invited in.”

The pair returned to the memorial site last weekend to remove the crucifix, after their social media posts attracted several tips to remove the superglue without damaging the plaque.

7NEWS.com.au has contacted Northern Beaches Council for comment.

Edwina often writes about her grief in her blog The Griefy Way, and discusses the many hardships that follow the death of a child.

“I live with no regrets as a mother,” she wrote the year of Seb’s death. “I know that he knew he was loved and adored, and that is all that matters.”

She said Seb was a healthy baby and his fatal seizure resulted from a flaw in his genetic pattern — of which Edwina wrote: “I am grateful that we didn’t live with this knowledge, his life was full.”

Seb’s kidneys were donated to a young adult who had been on dialysis for several years.

Edwina proudly shares that “Sebby died a lifesaver” and that “a piece of my baby lives on,” encouraging others to opt in to become an organ donor.