57-year-old man charged for slashing tires, vandalising boat, uttering threats, N.S RCMP says

A 57-year-old man has been charged in relation to several alleged incidents in Hubbards, N.S., Tantallon, N.S., and Port Hawkesbury, N.S.

Inverness County District RCMP received a report of mischief at a business on Reeves Street in Port Hawkesbury on Monday morning.

Police say a man, who was sitting in his vehicle, was confronted by another man who slashed his pickup truck tires before fleeing the scene.

Halifax District RCMP then received multiple complaints later on in the day, in the Hubbards area, where a man allegedly threatened several people over the phone. Police say the suspect, who is known to the victims, was later identified through tips from the public as the man involved in the Port Hawkesbury incident.

On Tuesday, police say they were continuing the investigations when additional incidents of threats and mischief were reported.

RCMP say they learned that video surveillance, taken at a marina on Nautical Way in Tantallon, captured footage of the suspect after a boat lift, a ridgid hull inflatable vessel belonging to the St. Margarets Bay Marine Search and Rescue Society, and two boat trailers were vandalised.

“An individual came on the property and took a very large knife and stabbed two of the boats and went down the entire length of our vessel cutting all the chambers in,” says Captain Anthony Garron, of St. Margarets Bay Search and Rescue.

“The damage was done with a very sharp knife and silt the tubes and the baffles in between the tube. So there is absolutely no way of repairing it. The damage is just too severe.”

Garron says the incident will affect their response time to emergencies.

“It will cut down response time significantly because the closest coastguard station is in Sambro. So it’s going to impact search and rescue for the next little while if they’re any calls that come in for this area.”

According to police, threats continued to be uttered by phone, and tires on Shore Club Road in Hubbards, had been slashed.

Police say the total cost of the damage is estimated to be more than $35,000.

The Boutiliers Point, N.S., man turned himself in to police at the Tantallon RCMP detachment later that day and he was arrested.

Andrew Joseph Cullen has been charged with:

• uttering threat (six counts)
• mischief (five counts)
• criminal harassment
• possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose

Cullen appeared in Halifax provincial court on Wednesday and was remanded into custody. He was scheduled return to court Thursday.

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