Police investigating after homophobic slur, threat spray-painted on Pickering couple’s garage

A rural Pickering couple says they fear for their daughter’s safety after finding homophobic graffiti spray-painted on their garage.

Brett and Paul Alford-Jones arrived to home Tuesday night and found a bright-orange message.

“We don’t like f****. Time to move, 30 days,” it read.

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“First I thought it was a joke and then when I read further down to the ‘time to move in 30 days’ part, I realized that it wasn’t a joke and then it sort of just hit me,” Brett told Global News Wednesday.

“Our daughter goes to school just up the road. Now I fear for her safety,” Paul said.

Brett said the family lives in a rural area with no neighbours close to the property.

“It’s even kind of hard to even fathom that anybody knows we’re here … what our genders are or anything,” he said. “They must be watching us.”

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Durham Regional Police Staff Sergeant Glenn Courneyea told Global News that police are treating the vandalism a “very serious offence.” He said West Division detectives are investigating the threat as a possible hate crime.

“It’s unacceptable. Our department is very inclusive. We really live towards those values of inclusivity in our department and also in the community we serve,” Courneyea said.

A GoFundMe page was set up Wednesday to help the family get security equipment. By the end of the day, the campaign surpassed its fundraising goal of $1,800.

“Paul and Brett now feel unsafe in their home and fear deeply for their daughter’s safety,” Iantha Goldberg, creator of the GoFundMe campaign, wrote, adding the funds will go toward the installation and maintenance of surveillance cameras.

LISTEN: Paul Alford-Jones joins the Morning Show on AM640

“We hope that as friends, and those who feel outrage that in our community people are being threatened because of their sexuality, that you can make a donation to help them get the cameras installed right away.”

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Meanwhile, Brett and Paul said they have received considerable support from friends and community members since the incident.

“This isn’t the community. This is one, maybe two, maybe it’s a group of people, we don’t know,” Paul said.

“We outnumber them, so no matter what that’s the thing that counts. And you know, love will win out every time.”

With files from Sasha Campbell