A suspect has been charged after a Buddha statue at the Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Monastery in Ottawa was vandalized for the second time this year.
“It hurts us. We are a very quiet community,” Weerasinghe, the monastery’s outreach coordinator, told the Ottawa Citizen.
In March, the statue was attacked and decapitated. After the repaired statue was unveiled earlier this month, a vandal was caught on camera at 1 am on May 17 hitting it with a piece of lumber.
The security system that recorded the act was purchased by donations from various religious organizations after the first attack.
On May 23, OttawaMatters.com reported that an individual has been charged and is set to appear in court at a future date.
The original statue was unveiled last October as a gift from Sri Lanka.
