News.com: Three charged over cemetery desecration
POLICE have charged three boys over the vandalising of an historic Japanese cemetery in Broome which left more than 100 headstones damaged. The desecration took place last week, in the midst of the West Australian resort town's annual Shinju Matsuri, a festival celebrating the pearling port's unique multicultural identity, which this year focused on the town's links with Japan. Police now say 133 headstones, some of which were up to 100 years old, were damaged in the rampage, some irreparably. A 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy were today both charged with criminal damage over the incident and will appear in the Broome Children's Court...Last week, an 11-year-old was also charged with criminal damage over the incident...Police also questioned an eight-year-old boy but could not charge him because of his age, the spokeswoman said.
This article says that many of the dead were Wakayama pearl divers who were struck down by the bends. It isn't the first time the cemetry has been desecrated.
