Mentally ill man arrested for Mierlo WWII cemetery vandalism

A 36-year-old man from Mierlo was arrested on Saturday for vandalizing the war cemetery in the town. The man suffers from psychosis and delusions that someone is out to get him, according to a neighbor. She doesn't think he was aware of what he was doing when he spray painted a swastika and other texts on the cemetery's chapel, graves and wall, the neighbor said to Eindhovens Dagblad.

According to the neighbor, she was the only person in the neighborhood with whom the man had contact. "Sometimes a good friend came by, his father was there occasionally, and once a week a counselor came to visit", she said to the newspaper. She was in his home a year ago. "I didn't know what I was seeing. All the walls in the living room were sprayed with inconsistent texts and letters."

The man was admitted to a mental health clinic a short time later. After that, it went better. But over the last two months she regularly heard shouting and bangs coming from his house. "As if he was beating the entire house."

The vandalism at the Mierlo War Cemetery was discovered on Friday morning. The Mierlo man was arrested a day later. The police would only tell NOS that the man's mental state may have contributed to the crime.