New Zealand’s largest graveyard, Waikumete Cemetery, has seen graves defaced following an act of vandalism which mostly affected the Māori burial grounds.

Gravestones targeted in the attack include one belonging to Māori filmmaker Cameron Duncan, whose sister described his headstone after the attack as “fully smashed up”.

“Once I saw my brother’s headstone [taken] down, I was overcome with a bit of emotion,” Nelly Duncan told Stuff.

“It’s a headstone, it’s replaceable, but he’s already gone – that’s the part that hurt the most, the fact that someone can go in there and be so disrespectful.”

Duncan’s whānau had only recently marked 20 years since Cameron’s death in November.

She says graves of babies had also been targeted, while another whānau had found their loved one’s resting site destroyed by a “bonfire”.

“Her entire grave was burnt up,” Duncan says.

West Auckland’s Waikumete Cemetery, established in 1886, is home to the Erebus Memorial, Holocaust Memorial, New Zealand Influenza Epidemic memorial and ANZAC Cenotaph, and is also the largest graveyard for service personnel of the World Wars and post-war veterans.

The urupa, Māori burial grounds, was officially opened in 1996.

Nikki Nelson, Auckland Council Manager of Cemetery Services, says the council immediately contacted police and began reaching out to “whānau whose plots were most affected” after learning of the damage which occurred on Wednesday.

She says the council do not believe the vandalism was specifically targeted towards the Māori burial grounds.

“While most of the damage occurred in the urupa area, there was also damage in the family mausoleum area, and we do not believe the attack was targeted at this area, but appears to be a random act of vandalism,” Nelson said.

“This is extremely distressing for the affected whānau and for our staff, and we strongly condemn the actions of these individuals.”

Nelson says that after forensics had cleared the site, the team “began clearing what we could, including safely storing any ornaments that may have sentimental value.”

Auckland Council encourages those who need support from their team or help in locating any missing ornaments to reach out.

Duncan says she found “a little bit” of vandalism leading to the mausoleum, and had been told by a groundskeeper there was minimal damage in the area compared to the urupa.

“The biggest thing spoken amongst the other whānau was that we all feel like it’s a racist attack,” Duncan says.

Duncan says she had left a Batman mask – the favourite superhero of her late brother – on top of a mask designed with Māori art on Cameron’s grave.

The fact that only the Māori-designed mask had been destroyed while the Batman mask was ignored, she says, is indicative of the vandal’s motives.

“With all the s… that’s gone on with the government lately, it feels like an attack on Māori … it does 100% feel like racism,” she said.

She described the culprit behind the attack as having “no soul”.

“I already know our dead are going after them, I just hope the living don’t find them first,” she says.

No suspects have been located, but police say a scene examination has been undertaken and enquiries are ongoing.

They ask anyone with information that could assist with enquiries to contact the Police by phone on 105, or online at 105.police.govt.nz using Update Report, referencing file number 231228/9358.