Youths arrested after allegedly decapitating statue of St Anthony

Police say three teenagers are being held on suspicion of damaging cultural patrimony when they decapitated a statue of St Anthony in Marsaskala

17 October 2020, 5:13pm
by Matthew Agius

1 min read

Police released a picture of the head of the statue, which was recovered today

Three youths have been arrested in connection with an act of vandalism on a religious statue at the Marsaskala Family Park.

In a statement released this evening, the police said that after days of investigation, the Cultural Patrimony section of the Major Crimes Unit had identified a 19-year old man from France, an 18-year old man from the United Kingdom and a 17-year old Maltese girl as the alleged culprits. Police found the head of the statue of St.Anthony in the male suspects’ residence.

The girl was arrested yesterday, with the two male suspects being apprehended on Saturday afternoon.

Police investigations discovered that the vandalism had taken place on October 6 at around 9:30pm. The statue, located on the parvis of a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony of Padova had been damaged by having its head torn off, together with the head and arms of a statue of the baby Jesus. The statues fall under the Cultural Patrimony Act, said the police.

Matthew Agius is Senior Reporter on Law and Court Affairs at MaltaToday. He is also a Leg...