Window Damaged at Northern Ireland Church; Investigated as Hate Crime
Shortly after 10 o'clock on the night of April 17th, the First Presbyterian Church in Newry, Northern Ireland suffered a vandalism attack in which one of its stained glass windows was damaged. The window had been repaired just weeks before this incident after vandals had damaged it earlier in the year.
Commenting on the incident Ulster Unionist councillor David Taylor said “I am extremely angry that an attack has occurred on the building of First Presbyterian Church. I condemn the actions of the individuals who perpetrated this heinous act in the strongest possible terms".
Condemning the attack on the church as “a despicable and evil act” he said, “It is difficult to comprehend the mindset of someone who would desecrate any place of worship and there is understandable outrage within the local community that this incident has occurred.... It is all the more significant given that this window was only repaired a matter of weeks ago following damage caused to it in a previous incident which occurred last year. This will no doubt cause great hurt to the congregation and it is extremely regrettable that they will have to incur further cost to repair the damage which has been caused to their church building."
Describing the latest attack as “very disappointing,” Reverend Hutton said: “The stained glass window, which was actually erected in memory of my wife’s grandmother Margaret Hanna, was damaged about a year ago – in late April or early May – and at that time it was deemed it wasn’t a hate crime, which we contested as why would anyone attack a place of worship?"
The damage was estimated at many thousands of pounds and police considered the incident a hate crime. A 35-year-old man was arrested at the scene and later charged with criminal damages.
Source: Armaghi, Newsletter, and Newry