Man Caught Stealing Wooden Crosses From Cemetery

A 73-year-old man is being investigated for desecrating graves after he was filmed taking home wooden crosses from a graveyard to burn at home.

The accused, from the Barza commune in Olt county, Romania, was filmed by a witness taking several wooden crosses in a cart.

The video was posted on TikTok and piqued viewers curiosity.

According to Ion Anuta, the local mayor, it was not the first time that the man had taken crosses from the village cemetery.

The mayor said the man's action is due to his past.

The man was a highly appreciated fiddle player, who performed for the "good world" at restaurants in the Olt Valley.

Sadly, he retired after the death of his son decades before.

Mr Anuta, quoted in Gandul, a Romanian online newspaper, said the accused was a "very decent man in his life", but that the suffering caused by the 19-year-old's death sent him "crazy and that "there's nothing you can do about him".

Anuta added: "He has a pension. The man was a fiddler for the boyars. He sang at the biggest restaurant in Calimane

"He has a fantastic musical culture, if you talk to him. When you talk to him about music, it's over, he has a fantastic lucidity. But, he has a problem. The police take him, he is hospitalised and discharged after a few months."

The mayor added that his fellow villagers were aware that the man was not aggressive and loved animals, often being accompanied by abandoned dogs and cats that he fed and sheltered.

However, a local resident chose to file a criminal case for desecrating graves.

According to Gandul, a woman who saw the man taking the cross said:''The cross is brand new, look, it's stiff. Rujan is written on it.''

And the suspect replied: "It's old!"

The woman replied: "Well, what a wretched man!"

Representatives of the Olt County Police Inspectorate confirmed that a criminal investigation file was being worked on for the desecration of graves.