MOOKERJEE: MAN WHO SPRAYED HISTORIC PAINTINGS DETAINED INDEFINITELY
A man who spray-painted two 17th-century paintings at the National Gallery has today (Thurs) been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.
Saura Mookerjee, 57, has been ruled unfit to stand trial after daubing two Nicholas Poussin works, worth tens of millions of pounds, with red paint from an aerosol can at around 5pm on July 17.
The damage was caused in full view of a nearby security guard and filmed on the gallery’s CCTV, the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
Mookerjee, who had been charged with criminal damage, was arrested at the scene and has since been held in custody undergoing assessment by psychiatrists.
The Adoration of the Golden Calf and The Adoration of the Shepherds, both oil paintings which depict biblical scenes, were painted between 1633 and 1634.
Gallery staff quickly washed the paint from the pictures – saving them from long-term damage.
Amita Patel, defending, said Mookerjee had specifically asked to be detained in prison rather than a psychiatric hospital.
‘He is quite clear about that,’ she said.
‘He would of course be able to access treatment, should it be needed, inside prison.’
Speaking in broken English, Mookerjee said it was ‘precisely because of the psychiatric that I’ve done what I’ve done.’
District Judge Nicholas Evans, who had read a psychiatric report, turned down Mookerjee’s plea and told him: ‘Frankly prison is not the best place for you.’
He said: ‘I am satisfied you did what you are said to have done and I have read these medical reports.
‘It is clear to me that you are someone who should be diverted to a hospital.’
Ms Patel told the court that the paintings’ oil ‘protected further damage’.
Asked by Judge Evans asked how much the paintings were worth, she added ‘tens of millions of pounds’.
Mookerjee, of (Flat 9), Davidge House, Coral Street, Waterloo, southeast London, will be transferred to a hospital within 28 days after the district judge made him subject of a hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
ends
