On 16 March, James Dowling of the Brisbane Catholic Workers pleaded not guilty at Brisbane magistrates court. He said that he had not ‘wilfully damaged’ a metal sword attached to a large stone crucifix known as the ‘Cross of Sacrifice’, a war memorial which has stood since 1924 by the gates of Brisbane’s Toowong cemetery.
Dowling told reporters after the hearing: ‘The damage was done when the sword was put on a cross, that is wilful damage. We tried to repair that damage. We took that sword off the cross.’
On 1 March, Dowling handed the sword to Tim Webb, also charged with wilful damage, who put it on an anvil and hammered it into a garden hoe.
Trial is set for 26 April. We were put onto this story by the wonderful Nuclear Resister: www.nukeresister.org
Topics: Anti-war action