Macquarie Street Foodstore, run by Mike Dutta and Zelinda Sherlock, targeted by vandals twice in 2023

A popular cafe owned by a pair of Hobart councillors has again been the subject of vandalism – but they hold out hope that police will be able to track down the culprit. HERE’S WHY >

Father and daughter Mike Dutta and Zelinda Sherlock. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

A popular cafe owned by a pair of Hobart councillors has again been the subject of vandalism – but they hold out hope that police will be able to track down the culprit.

At about 7.30am on Saturday, Councillor Zelinda Sherlock opened the Macquarie Street Foodstore to find that it had yet again been defaced by vandals.

This is the third time the cafe has been targeted, and the second time it has happened since January this year.

This time, customers had to be served while the graffiti remained on the front wall of the cafe.

One of the messages contained a racist comment, while the other read “get rid of Dutta ASAP”.

Councillors Mike Dutta and Zelinda Sherlock have yet again had their cafe, Macquarie Street Foodstore, defaced by vandals. Picture: Zelinda Sherlock

Ms Sherlock said she and father, Councillor Mike Dutta, had been the subject and target of vandalism around Hobart.

“This is the third time at the front of the shop, and previously around the back, and there have been instances of graffiti around the city referring to my dad (at various car parks),” Ms Sherlock said.

She said the latest spate of vandalism comes after a family tragedy, and two weeks before the cafe is set to close its doors for good.

“Everyone is already feeling a bit of heartache … something like this (happening) this last week is not great, it’s not a lovely feeling at all,” she said.

“It feels a little bit like a threat, it certainly feels a bit racially inspired,

“It is very disappointing; it’s disappointing for the community, for the customers, they had to sit there before we could take it down.”

City of Hobart Councillors, Zelinda Sherlock. Picture: Chris Kidd

Despite not having any CCTV cameras at the store, Ms Sherlock said she held out hope that police would identify the perpetrator.

“They took an incident report, and because the writing is the same style of writing as the past few times (of vandalism), and around Hobart, they will go through their own systems to find (the person),” she said.

She said people should not feel like they could get away with this type of act.

“I don’t know if people realise how hurtful it is; it’s not something we want happening in our community.”