Manchester – Two Manchester boys who cannot be named because they
are only 13, were given penalties for vandalizing a Jewish cemetery in Greater
Manchester on Rochdale Old Road, Higher Blackley in June. The boys pushed over
headstones which fell onto others and damaged them. The total cost of the
damage is $24,000, and residents were said to have been traumatized by the
incident.
The court called the boys’ actions, “despicable, heartless and
horrible,” and although neither boy could tell the corrections officer why he
perpetrated the act, the teens were said to have remorse. Antisemitic graffiti
and swastikas were painted in another section of the cemetery, but there was no
proof that the boys were responsible for the graffiti.
Both boys have had restraining orders placed on them, and they are
forbidden from entering any cemetery without an adult for an unspecified amount
of time. One, who had a previous criminal record of assault, must wear an
electronic tag and do reparation work for nine months. The other boy, who has
no prior record, must pay (or his parents must pay) a fine of $816.
It was estimated that a hundred volunteers showed up at the Jewish
cemetery to clean up the graffiti and repair the damage after the incident.
