Puerto Plata.- Authorities will arrest four minors for desecrating and setting fire to various furniture and books in the Nuestra Señora de La Milagrosa parish in the municipal district of Maimón.
In the complaint made by the priest Tony Bonilla, parish priest of the place, he indicates that during the incident that took place last Sunday, the individuals also destroyed the pulpit along with several floral arrangements that were placed at the foot of the image of the Virgin.
To put out the fire, the priest was helped by locals and members of the Maimón fire department.
According to reports, after committing the act of vandalism, the teenagers left the Catholic church shouting: “We set the church on fire.”
Catholic believers have expressed their indignation and have asked the authorities to take action against juvenile offenders.
Judicial and police authorities began investigations into the incident, proceeding to arrest the quartet of minors, whose identities are being withheld for legal reasons.
The four minors, accompanied by their parents, were referred to the Court for Children and Adolescents of Puerto Plata, where they will be criminally sanctioned as stipulated by Law 136-03.
It was confirmed that the Public Prosecutor’s Office will be represented in this case by the Attorney General of the Court, Ramon Antonio Núñez Liriano (Ramy) and the prosecutor Ramón Cabrera, who are structuring the accusatory file against the accused.
In April of this year, a man with apparent mental problems desecrated the San Isidro Labrador church, located in the municipal district of Canca La Piedra, in the municipality of Tamboril. José Ramón Ovalle (El Águila), 50 years old, was arrested for the crime; he stole the cups for the chalice.
The auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Santiago, Monsignor Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán, said that it is a desecration because they threw the consecrated hosts on the ground and forcibly violated the tabernacle.
