A tourist from the United States smashed two antique statues worth $1.2 million in an Israeli museum. The court decided not to send the rowdy to prison, Daily Mail reports.
According to the portal, 40-year-old Stephen Port deliberately stayed in the Israeli museum during a visit to commit an act of vandalism. Left alone in the hall, he pushed two two-thousand-year-old Roman statues onto the floor – the head of Athena and a griffin clutching the wheel of the fate of the Roman goddess Nemesis. The police believe that he would have broken many more works of art, but the museum security guards came running in response to the noise and managed to stop the man from committing atrocities.
After his arrest, the American said that he did not regret what he had done and that he had wanted to break the statues during his first visit to Israel.
During interrogation, Port argued that the statues were “contrary to his faith and religion,” insisting that they were “works of idolatry.”
Police initially labeled the tourist’s act a “religious attack” and said he desecrated the statues because they contradicted the Torah, Judaism’s most important text.
However, the American’s lawyer insisted that his client committed the crime because he suffered from “Jerusalem syndrome.” He explained that his client was overcome with emotion upon seeing the art and therefore reacted violently.
The judge agreed with the defense’s arguments and acquitted Port of the criminal charges, but ordered him to undergo treatment at a medical facility. This decision was also made based on the conclusion of forensic experts, who, after a series of examinations, concluded that at the time of the incident, the defendant was not responsible for his actions.
It is noted that Port will spend at least four years in the hospital. This is exactly the prison term he faced if the judge found him guilty. It is also expected that the convict will undergo treatment in Israel.
The broken statues were sent for restoration. Experts hope to return the exhibits to their original places shortly.