A Dutch tourist has defaced a frescoed wall in an ancient Roman house in Herculaneum, near Naples, damaging a building that survived the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, Italian police said on Monday.
The police statement said the 27-year-old tourist was swiftly identified after staff at the archaeological site discovered tagged graffiti writing made with a black, indelible marker pen on a white section of a painted wall.
Police said the writing was the man’s graffiti signature.
He’s done irreversible damage to a pricless part of history. Paying that amount for damages is one thing, I think jail time should go along with it. The punishment should not only be there to teach him a lesson and help fund restoration of those damages, it should be harsh enough to discourage other people from following hia steps. Jail time + paying for damages seems more fitting.
I doubt it is irreversible, but I guess we disagree on the use of jail. I personally think jail should be for violent people and people that are harmful to society.
I see you could argue the second, but I find it overkill. I’d much rather see that an offence like this is punished with service to society.
If you really want to deter him and other people from doing it again, chop of his hand and stick it on a pike near the crime…
The whole “punish someone with jail and make it as miserable as possible” is something I associate with 3rd world countries, dictatorships and the US.
I’d much rather people like this are taught a resonating message using the right community service that also saves on taxpayer money and not cost 280 a day (or over 100K for your suggested 1 year revenge scentence).
“so what are you in for?”
“I wrote my tag on an important wall. You?”
“I murdered my entire family when my wife overcooked my fish”
“I can tell we will be friends, we’re birds of a feather.”