SIBLINGS who opened a restaurant in memory of their late father have been pushed to the brink of closure after falling foul of “idiotic and drunken” vandals for the THIRD time.

Vicky Kounnis, 39, opened Taste of Cyprus, in High Street, Colchester, last year with her brother as a tribute to their father’s legacy.

Vicky said: “My brother and I opened it during lockdown. My dad took us down there to see the place and was thinking about opening a restaurant, sadly days later he passed away.”

She said the siblings decided to carry on with their dad’s venture.

Despite good custom, the pair have had to deal with repeated incidents of criminal damage.

On the first occasion, around six months ago, their front door was damaged by a drunken passerby.

Vicky said the culprit later visited the restaurant and offered to pay for the damage.

“He said he thinks his drink was spiked, he’s really sorry, he’s a business owner and he wouldn’t like it if someone did it to him,” she said.

Just ten days ago, the restaurant’s front window was “caved in” amid a drunken brawl involving five people.

Restaurant staff captured footage of a fight outside the premises.

Vicky said: “They got pushed into the window and caved it in. We had to go and sit there the whole night just to protect the place.

“We got it fixed ten days ago at a cost of £2,000 and now it’s happened again.”

The restaurant's CCTV system captured footage of one of the group hitting the window.

In the latest incident, a passer-by was captured on CCTV launching a kick at the same window.

The vandal struck at around 12.25am on Sunday.

The new window will now have to be replaced, again at a cost of around £2,000.

READ MORE: Police appealing for information after assault on teenage girl

Vicky says the attacks have left her disillusioned with the whole venture.

“To be honest we’re actually thinking about closing the whole thing down,” she said.

“We can’t catch a break.

“We keep putting money into it and it’s killing us.

I think the council should be offering to put shutters in place or something like that.

“We pay our rates and it’s quite a lot, we pay £7,000 for three months.”

Anyone with information can contact Essex Police on 101 quoting crime reference number 42/38167/22.

A police spokesman said: "We were called following reports of criminal damage on Sunday, February 13.

"It was reported to us that a window to a restaurant in High Street was broken at around 0.25am.

"No arrests have been made."