It has left a number of residents very angry particularly George Milkovits who said he bought the property for the great view and the mature eucalypts.

“Three trees on the north side of Lake Street immediately in front of us and a fourth one in the reserve, were all dead and had to be removed a couple of weeks ago,” Mr Milkovits said.

He said the trees started to suffer about a year ago.

“It’s been over a period of time. Two were poisoned and then another two and then some were re-poisoned because they weren’t killed off the first time. I saw the drill holes and that’s when I notified council,” Mr Milkovits said. 

“I witnessed it one night. I saw him one night and there is a video recording of him approaching trees with a drill in his hands,” Mr Milkovits said. The video has been given to council.

“I am extremely disappointed at the loss of mature healthy trees which are rare on the coastal edge. The reason we bought the property was partly for these trees and this person decides to engage in criminal activity,” Mr Milkovits said.

Only recently council prosecuted a Pambula Beach resident in the Land and Environment Court of NSW for unlawful clearing, destruction and poisoning of vegetation in Jiguma Reserve in 2016 resulting in the resident entering a plea of guilty and being fined in excess of $20,000.

Mr Milkovits believes that council may institute a retributive justice program which means that instead of paying costs to attend the Land and Environment Court, the guilty party agrees to pay damages directly to council and also takes out advertising space to apologise to the community.

“Investigations into this matter are ongoing and as a consequence it would be inappropriate for council to comment at this time,” a council spokesman said when asked about the matter.