An unknown perpetrator chopped the head and hands off the statue of the Virgin Mary which stood outside St. Michael's Catholic Church in Växjö.
The attack was discovered on the morning of January 19th. The remains of the statue were found on the ground next to the Lourdes grotto in the back of the church buildings.
"Maria has a strong symbolic value for Catholics," said the church's deacon Oddbjörn Andreassen. Calling it a hate crime, he said he considered it a conscious attack on the church. "We must pray for those who have done this."
Police opened an investigation.
Sources: Afton Bladet and SMP.se