Jewish cemetery vandal ordered to leave New Zealand
Over 20 gravestones covered in swastikas and praises of Hitler
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — A man who was found guilty of vandalizing historic Jewish graves in New Zealand last week escaped a jail sentence.
Christian Landmark, 20, appeared in Auckland District Court June 28 and was ordered by Judge Russell Collins to return to court in August with proof of an air ticket to leave the country in order to escape a jail sentence, local media reported.
Landmark, who is not a New Zealand citizen, could not be sentenced to community service. But he must pay $3,000 for repairs to the graves at the historic Symonds Street cemetery, which was vandalized last October.
More than 20 gravestones, some dating back to the 1880s, were desecrated with swastikas and the number 88 — code for “Heil, Hitler,” prompting New Zealand Jewish Council President Stephen Goodman to describe it as “a wanton act of anti-Semitic vandalism.”
Then-Israeli ambassador to New Zealand Shemi Tzur branded the attack as a “vile act of blind hatred for Jews and for the sole Jewish state.”
Charges of willful damage carry a maximum penalty of seven years in jail in New Zealand. Landmark has been in custody since his trial, but was allowed out on bail after the hearing on condition he surrender his passport.
“I seriously doubt you have any insight into how distressing the spraying of the symbol of that regime is to New Zealanders,” the judge said.
Another man, Robert Moulden, pleaded guilty and was ordered to do community service. Moulden, who has no family, has attended a Shabbat dinner and has been learning about the Holocaust in a restorative justice program organized by local Jews.
