‘Tomb theft God’s work’

A MAN accused of desecrating a Brisbane war memorial says he had a “higher permission” to remove a brass sword from a stone crucifix.

James Joseph Dowling, 61, and three other men went to Toowong Cemetery with a mallet, anvil and ladder and vandalised the monument, a Brisbane court heard.

“Its blasphemy to allow a sword to be placed on a Christian cross,” Dowling allegedly told police. “We felt we were called by God to make a strong statement.” He and his co-accused have pleaded not guilty to wilful damage.