14 DAY TRIAL // This past Thursday, December 25, Reverend Ben LeTran had the shock of a lifetime when he arrived at the Sacred Hearts church in Haverhill in Massachusetts, US, and found that the Nativity scene shown at this place of worship looked nothing like it did the day before.
Long story short, the Reverend found that, for reasons still unknown, the baby Jesus included in the Sacred Hearts' Nativity scene had been replaced with a pig's head. A freshly decapitated, bloody pig's head, to be more precise.
Ben LeTran did not take long to contact local authorities and tell them about the gruesome discovery. Soon enough, the pig's head was removed and a brand new baby Jesus statue was put on display. Still, the incident is still being talked about.
A rather bizarre case
By the looks of it, whoever pulled this little stunt did not settle for simply moving the original baby Jesus statue included in the Nativity scene a little more to the left or to the right, and putting the decapitated pig's head in its place.
On the contrary, they went the extra mile and stole the statue. Thus, Reverend Ben LeTran says that, when he arrived at the Sacred Heats church bright and early on Christmas Day, the original baby Jesus included in the display was nowhere in sight.
As detailed by Lieutenant Robert P. Pistone, the pig's head that Ben LeTran found in place still had hair on it. This indicates that whoever put it there did not get it from a local butcher or anything of the sorts but might have instead decapitated the animal themselves.
If this is indeed what happened, the person responsible for this incident could be charged with animal cruelty. The thing is that, in order for this to happen, police officers must first figure out who the culprit is and take them into custody.
According to Reverend Ben LeTran, the baby Jesus stolen from this church in Massachusetts, US, was eventually replaced with a statue donated by a local parishioner. People who think that they might know who the person behind the theft could be are asked to contact authorities.
Possibly a hate crime
Folks living in the city of Haverhill, together with Mayor James J. Fiorentini, are quite convinced that the theft of the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene at the Sacred Hearts church is no more and no less than a hate crime and cannot wait for the culprit to be brought to justice.
“I’m absolutely outraged by this incident, which does have all the elements of a hate crime,” Mayor James J. Fiorentini said, as cited by The Boston Globe. “I want to state in the strongest possible way that this does not reflect our community,” he added.
Hopefully, it will not be long until the original baby Jesus statue is found and the individual who stole it and put the decapitated pig's head in its place is made to pay for their actions.
