We all have our crosses to bear in life but a sneak thief has been bearing crosses from Ratoath graveyard and the thefts have been causing one OAP serious distress.
Tom Everard, (88), visits his wife’s grave every Tuesday before going to his parents burial plot and it was at their grave he first noticed the figure of Jesus was missing from a cross over the family headstone.
His daughter Anne Marie told Meath Live, ‘The blessing of the graves was on May 28th and the figure was there but when he visited two days later it was gone,
‘And not alone was it gone but two similar figures on graves beside my granny’
It’s had been taken as well.
The cross before the theft
‘At first we put it down to youngsters vandalising the place but when I mentioned this to a neighbour they pointed out there had been no damage done and that the figures had been unscrewed from the cross in a professional manner, so it appears someone has been deliberately removing our Lord from the cross.
‘It seems a bit pointless really, as they are made of clay and wouldn’t have any re sale value at all.
‘Whoever is doing it is targeting the figures as the graves have not been damaged at al and all the flowers that are on them have been left untouched.
‘I have posted about it on social media and have been told of one man taking photos of headstones in the graveyard recently and also about a man seen acting suspiciously on the 29th of May but both of those could just be coincidental.
‘People might think it is not a big deal but my dad got very emotional over it ,he just cannot get his head around why someone would do something so nasty.’
A spokesman for one of the county’s leading monumental works said, ‘ Funnily enough people might think these are inexpensive but bronze figures like that cost around €150 each, wooden or clay ones cost less but they are readily available and I can’t see the point in taking them.’
Gardai are investigating.
