Almost 10 months after it was stolen, a near-life-sized wooden statue of Jesus Christ has been recovered and is back in its grotto on Gower Point Road at Gospel Rock.
“It’s good to have it back,” owner Albert Holtforster said Tuesday. “And now it’s got some history.”
Holtforster was tipped off about the location of the statue by a Gibsons woman who was walking her dog late last month on the beach below the 1300 block of Gower Point Road, near the foot of Swallow Road.
The woman, who requested anonymity, discovered the statue propped up in the corner of an open-air shack on the beach, surrounded by driftwood, toys and stacks of sandals. She left a note in Holtforster’s door saying, “Email me, I found Jesus.”
“She’s the one who’s responsible for having the opportunity to get the statue back,” Holtforster said. “She deserves full credit.”
Holtforster notified the RCMP that his stolen property had been found. Then, with the help of a “strong friend,” he retrieved the statue last week.
“It took us three and a half hours to get it off the beach to the road,” he said, noting the solid teak carving weighs about 150 pounds. “It’s pretty heavy.”
Asked if he would now keep the statue in a more secure place, Holtforster said: “We don’t live like that. I’m putting it right back. If it gets stolen again, we’ll put it back again after it gets found again.”
After cleaning and oiling the statue, Holtforster placed it this week in its former location, on land he owns directly across from his house at 857 Gower Point Road.
“The community’s always been good around here,” he said. “They liked the statue when it was here. They couldn’t believe someone would be so bold as to steal it.”
Holtforster reported the theft to the RCMP on March 17 last year and the story was covered by local media and discussed on Facebook, but Sunshine Coast RCMP did not receive any information from the public shedding light on the crime, spokesman Const. Harrison Mohr said Wednesday.
RCMP attended the scene when Holtforster recovered the statue last week.
“Police contacted the owner of the shack, who said the wooden statue had washed up on the beach in August 2015, and he wasn’t aware it had been stolen. The shack’s owner was happy to have the statue returned to its rightful owner,” Mohr said.
No charges are being recommended against the owner of the shack.
“There is no evidence he was involved in the theft of the statue or that he was aware it was stolen,” Mohr said. “It appears that the theft of this statue will remain a mystery. However, we’re happy that it has been reunited with its rightful owner."
Holtforster said he never believed the statue was gone for good.
“No, I never thought it would be because it’s one of [a kind], so I don’t think people can sell it without people knowing about it. And I guess it was nice enough not to throw away,” he said.
He bought the piece at Black Diamond Gallery in Black Diamond, Alta., he said, adding that it was an impulse buy, as he had visited the gallery to buy a teak table, which now sits in his living room.
The statue, which is about two metres in height including its base, had been sitting in its viewing spot at Gospel Rock for about one year before it was stolen. It has become a holy shrine for some residents, who visit it regularly and, in some cases, say prayers under it.
If anyone has additional information about the theft, they are asked to call Sunshine Coast RCMP, and reference file number 16-491.
