Fall River man charged in cathedral break-in also suspected of decapitating holy statues

FALL RIVER — A man known to police as having a history of mental illness is facing charges for a series of bizarre crimes including a break-in at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Tuesday and a theft from a South End convenience store using a large statue of Jesus.

According to Fall River Police Lt. Jay D. Huard, Bouchaib Hammazy, 29, of 2544 Fourth St., is also a suspect in the vandalism of religious statues at St. Joseph Cupertino Independent Catholic Church on Rock Street.

According to the church’s Facebook page, a vandal severed the statue heads of the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph on Sunday and carried them away.

The statue was purchased for the church by Deacon Michael Spearin a few years ago and was called “The Holy Family,” according to a Facebook post.

Huard said the vandalism is still under investigation.

A voice message left at the St. Joseph Cupertino church was not immediately returned but, according to a social media post, church officials indicated that the statue heads were found at St. Mary’s Cathedral when that church was vandalized.

Church officials in the Facebook post requested that people pray for "the individual" who is in custody.

On Tuesday, Huard said police were dispatched to St. Mary’s Cathedral with reports that a man was throwing rocks at the church. Huard said Hammazy threw a cinderblock through a window at the church.

When police arrived, Hammazy had fled and officers later located him at the corner and Rock and Pine streets in the area of the First Baptist Church. He was summonsed to appear on breaking and entering into a church.

Huard said Hammazy was taken for a psychological evaluation after his arrest.

He received an additional summons to court for an alleged breaking and entering at night for a break-in of a vehicle on Peckham Street.

Hammazy is also alleged to have broken a window at Cloverdale Farms on South Main Street with the statue of Jesus at 8 a.m. on Sept. 24.

Huard said Hammazy entered the store carrying the statue with both hands and attempted to purchase bottles of Corona beer. Because of the early morning hour, the clerk refused to sell the liquor to Hammazy, who said he was going to take the beer anyway.

“When the clerk attempted to stop him, he took the Jesus statue and threw it at the window and got into a fight with the clerk, and the head of the statue was lying on the ground outside the window,” Huard said.

Hammazy fled the scene.

Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com.