Girl hurt after stepping on board of nails buried in sandy Ontario parking lot

An Ontario family was wrapping up a beautiful day on Port Elgin’s beach when their daughter stepped on something sharp in the sandy parking lot.

“We started looking around in the sand to see if we could find something. My wife’s cousin found it with her hand, initially," says Fraser Mahon, the young girl’s father. "We cleared away the sand to find a massive board in the sand, full of nails."

The two- to-three-foot-long board with more than 20 nails in it punctured Fraser’s daughter’s foot in at least two spots.

“We were concerned about infection, knowing the nails had gone deep into her foot. So we just monitored for a few days,” he says. “She eventually healed up, and is doing alright."

Saugeen Shores police are investigating after a young girl stepped on a wooden board covered in nails while walking on the beach in Port Elgin, Ont. on Oct. 23, 2022. (Source: Saugeen Shores Police Service/Facebook)

The Mahons say there is no way the board could accidentally have ended up buried in the sand in Port Elgin’s beach parking lot. They have no doubt it was a deliberate act, and immediately contacted the Saugeen Shores Police Service, who is now investigating.

“Disgusting. Deplorable. What kind of person could do such a thing?” asks Mahon.

The Mahons grew up Port Elgin but now live in Barrie, Ont., and were at the beach on Oct. 23, visiting family when they found the board buried in the sand.

A wooden board with nails was found in the parking lot of Port Elgin, Ont.'s beach, where it injured Jessica and Fraser’s young daughter after she stepped on it on Oct. 23, 2022. (Source: Jessica and Fraser Mahon)

“Knowing some of the politics in Port Elgin, it was put where people park their cars, so probably aimed at tourists to cause some problems. Who knows exactly what the motive was, but unfortunately my daughter was the end result,” he says.

Mahon is calling on Saugeen Shores to install security cameras at the beach to not only catch someone doing this in the future, but also to act as a deterrent.

“I’d love to see the town with a little bit of responsibility, and get some cameras up there. They’re not expensive, anymore. There’s really no reason for them to debate it, with the amount of money in Saugeen Shores,” says Mahon.