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The homeless menace accused of vandalizing six Manhattan Buddhist and Taoist temples – together with hurling a Buddha statue out the window – was lower unfastened in court docket Wednesday night time due to current bail legislation adjustments.
Taihong Ouyang, 49 – who faces hate crime housebreaking and prison mischief expenses – was granted supervised launch as he appeared earlier than a choose in connection to the early Tuesday morning path of destruction, the DA’s workplace stated.
The costs aren’t eligible for bail beneath state legislation, prosecutors stated.
Ouyang informed detectives he carried out the vandalism as a result of he believed the monks on the temples have been “performing improperly by charging an excessive amount of cash and placing folks on the fallacious spiritual path,” and that he’d hoped to “give these temples a beating,” in keeping with a prison grievance.
The vandalism spree started round 12:20 a.m. at an Eldridge Avenue temple owned by the Buddhist Affiliation of New York – the place he allegedly used a steel object to interrupt the home windows, the court docket doc stated.
He returned round 3 a.m. and destroyed much more home windows on the similar temple, prosecutors charged.
Ouyang can be accused of shattering home windows at a Chinese language acupuncture enterprise on Canal Avenue that shares its location with the Mahayana Buddhist Temple round 12:50 a.m. and once more at about 4:30 a.m., in keeping with the grievance.
Throughout Ouyang’s unhinged spree, he additionally allegedly used a hearth extinguisher to smash the palms of a big spiritual statue and threw a smaller statue on the bottom contained in the Sung Tak Buddhist Affiliation on Pike Avenue.
On the Grace Gratitude Buddhist Temple on East Broadway, he allegedly shattered the glass entrance door – and contained in the World Buddhist Temple on Henry Avenue, he’s accused of utilizing a stick to interrupt the safety cameras.
Ouyang’s match of fury got here to an finish round 8:30 a.m. on the Huang Da Xian Taoist Temple on the Bowery, the place prosecutors say he tossed a Buddhist statue by way of the window – breaking each the statue and the window.
Somebody known as 911 to report the vandalism and Ouyang was tracked down and arrested, authorities stated.
Ouyang, who was additionally charged with aggravated harassment, is subsequent scheduled to seem in court docket April 30.
He doesn’t seem to have an arrest file.
James Lynch, Jr. vice chairman of the Buddhist Council of New York, informed The Put up he solely need compassion for Ouyang.
“As a sensible matter, we’re not within the enterprise of making an attempt to hunt punishment for folks, however concord and compassion,” Lynch, Jr. stated. “So it makes [for] difficult points. Buddhists by definition have compassion and love.”
“We don’t need [people] to be drawn and quartered,” he added. “Keep in mind, he’s a homeless man — there’s psychological instability there, probably….After we take into consideration folks otherwise, then we don’t look to punish them a lot as how we are able to carry folks collectively in a compassionate approach.”
He additionally pointed to “ongoing” downside with crimes in opposition to the Asian neighborhood “that always go unacknowledged.”
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