A furious mother has vented her outrage after a ‘God-botherer’ glued a Christian crucifix to her late baby’s public memorial.
Edwina Symonds last week discovered the unwanted addition to the plaque for her son Sebastian, who tragically died in July 2018 at just 10 months of age, and implored the vandal that her departed child does not need to be ‘saved’.
Saying hello their ‘little buddy’ at Narrabeen Lagoon on Sydney’s Northern beaches has become a family ritual for Ms Symonds, her husband Anthony and their two children.
But the family were disgusted to think someone would ‘deface’ their ‘special spot’.
‘To the God-botherer that vandalised our son’s plaque by supergluing a cross to it!!!’ Ms Symonds said in a a lengthy post on a local Facebook group.
‘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.’
Saying hello their ‘little buddy’ at Narrabeen Lagoon on Sydney’s Northern beaches has become a family ritual for Ms Symonds, her husband Anthony and their two children (pictured together)
Edwina Symonds discovered the unwanted addition to the plaque for her son Sebastian, who tragically died in July 2018 at just 10 months of age, and implored the vandal that her late child does not need to be ‘saved’
Ms Symonds went on to say that religion is a ‘nice ideal’ and the person was ‘entitled to their beliefs’ but made it clear she didn’t share them.
‘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’,’ she wrote.
‘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 it doesn’t require your attention.’
The family lost Seb after her husband Anthony discovered the baby boy having a severe seizure while in his cot, which he never awoke from despite being rushed to hospital.
Baby Seb (pictured with mother Edwina Symonds) was just 10 months old when he suffered a fatal seizure in 2018 due to a suspected fatal ‘genetic flaw’
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Subsequently the couple were told their firstborn son’s death was due to a ‘genetic flaw’.
Ms Symonds has written about how she and her family, which now includes children Elodie and Dash, have coped with the loss of Seb in articles and for a blog The Griefly Way.
In a 2021 article for parenting website Kidspot she described the process of grieving her son.
‘Every night, I light his room and read him a bedtime story,’ she wrote.
‘These rituals may fade with time, but not inside my heart. I will forever be his mumma, be reading him his favourite bedtime stories and kissing his soft, angelic face with my mind. My love for him will endure.
‘I am a mother without. My baby is resting, somewhere above. I cannot hold him, but I see him in the stars, and I feel him in the wind and the waves lapping our beaches.’
On Saturday Ms Symonds removed the cross with a paint scraper.
The Symonds family removed the offending cross from their son’s memorial plaque on Saturday
‘Order is restored! T H A N K Y O U amazing community for all of your messages of support, encouragement and offers to help clean up Seb’s plaque,’ she wrote in Facebook update.
‘We have been overwhelmed with the reach this little story has made. We have no idea what Reddit is, but a lot more people learned about Seb there too!’
Ms Symonds advised people to tell council if anything is ‘out of place’ at a familiar plaque.
‘These places are so special to so many, and Anthony and I are honoured that you all would like to keep Sebby’s spot protected too,’ she wrote.
She said those who wanted to honour Seb’s memory could do so by registering to be an organ donor.
‘On the day Seb died, he saved another persons life, and that is the most precious act of community that we are so proud of,’ she wrote.
‘Thank you again. It means so much to us live in a special place like this. Have a great weekend.’
