This is the moment when a real-life Scrooge starts ‘hacking’ a giant inflatable Santa Claus outside a family home.
Michael Cook, 40, was with his eight-year-old daughter Scarlett at a carol service in Lowestoft, Suffolk, when the perpetrator struck.
The little girl was left ‘heartbroken’ after the Grinch-esque incident and heartbreakingly even asked her dad if she had done anything to deserve it.
CCTV footage shows the man ‘cutting’ the decoration before calmly walking away as it deflates.
Mr Cook said: ‘Santa Claus is a fairly harmless symbol of Christmas, I just don’t understand why anyone would do that. Scarlett is heartbroken.”
A neighbor witnessed the incident but was too afraid to speak to the man directly.
Instead, he called Mr. Cook, who was able to view the footage from his video camera when he returned home.
Mr Cook, who works as an emergency medical technician for the East of England Ambulance Service, said: ‘It’s annoying because you’re trying to teach your child right from wrong and something like this happens.
Video footage captured the moment a real-life Scrooge stabbed and deflated a giant inflatable Santa outside a family home
CCTV footage showed the man cutting the decoration before walking away as it deflated
Emergency medical technician Michael Cook, 40, was with his eight-year-old daughter Scarlett at a carol service in Lowestoft, Suffolk, when the attacker struck. Suffolk police said the owner has reported a crime and they will be contacting him
“They say, ‘Did I do something bad, is that why it happened?’
‘I said, ‘No, unfortunately they are very poor people.’
‘Next time I’ll do an exhibition, that won’t deter me. I’ll do another one, you can’t hide, I’m determined to just keep going.”
Suffolk police said the owner has reported a crime and they will be contacting him.
It comes after it emerged just weeks ago that police believe a spate of vandalism involving Christmas lights and other festive decorations outside homes in one province may have been carried out by the same Grinch – or Grinches.
A total of 11 properties were targeted around Suffolk in one night, leading officers to suspect the incidents were linked.
Doorbell CCTV footage shows a man in a balaclava sneaking into a house before cutting off the colorful lights outside.
Another video from a separate incident shows two men cutting a light cord.
All incidents occurred overnight on December 5 in five villages within a few kilometers of each other, with the suspect or suspects then disappearing into the night.