Suspect charged with felony hate crime after beheading statue of Jesus at New York parish

CNA Staff, Jul 16, 2024 / 14:20 pm (CNA).

A suspect in a vandalism incident at a New York City parish has been charged with a hate crime after beheading a statue of the Christ Child in Queens.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a press release on her website that Jamshaid Choudhry “has been charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime and other related crimes” in connection with the smashing of the statue at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Fresh Meadows on June 30.

The attack “caused the head of one of the statues, the depiction of a child Jesus, to break off,” Katz’s office said.

Surveillance footage reportedly showed Choudhry pulling up to the parish in a yellow cab, after which he allegedly ran up to the statue, took off his shoe, and struck the statue multiple times with it, beheading the depiction of Jesus.

The vandalism reportedly cost the church about $3,000. Choudhry himself was arrested last week.

“We will not tolerate unprovoked attacks, especially those driven by hate,” Katz said in the statement. “Queens stands as a beacon of diversity and inclusivity, where freedom of religion and expression are celebrated as fundamental pillars of our democracy.”

“Thanks to my Hate Crimes Bureau and the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force, this individual has been apprehended,” she added.

The suspect faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The New York incident is one of numerous acts of vandalism against Catholic churches and other faith organizations in recent months and years.

Last month the faith-based crisis pregnancy center Heartbeat of Miami settled with vandals who graffitied its property after the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade in 2022.

In February, a vandal defaced a statue of the Blessed Mother in a prayer garden on the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

In April, a vandal in Portland, Oregon, spray-painted a church there with an expletive and the slogan “my body my choice.” The pastor there urged his parish to pray for the vandal.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told EWTN News earlier this year that the various acts of vandalism, as well as other, more violent attacks on parishes, “are not random nor are they the result of a temporary lapse in judgment by perpetrators.”

The senator criticized the Biden administration for failing to pursue and prosecute these attacks.

“They can’t find a single person or any of these people that were responsible for these, what is a pretty concerted effort to attack Catholic churches in America,” he said.