Jail for man who toppled 7ft statue of Virgin Mary

A man who toppled a 7ft high statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary from a pedestal in former convent grounds was yesterday jailed for criminal damage.

The statue, extensively damaged, had been erected 150 years ago at the former Maria Immaculata convent in Dunmanway, Co Cork.

Judge James McNulty, sitting at Bandon District Court, referred to the sense of outrage in a community that had erected and respected, for decades, a “monument to the faith” of many locals.