The ceramic head of Victor Apap in Bisazza Street, Sliema, crashed to the ground yesterday, the second of the trio of new statues to lose its head as CCTV footage emerged showing a youngster kicking that of Charles Clews three days earlier.

The statues form part of a monument featuring the late actors Ġemma Portelli, Mr Clews and Mr Apap sitting around a table having a cup of tea, with a fourth empty seat that invites passers-by to sit.

The first casualty was Mr Clews’s head, discovered in pieces on the ground.

CCTV footage uploaded by timesofmalta.com shows a young man jumping on top of the table, falling off, and then kicking the statue three times in the head on Friday at around 1.50 a.m. The head fell off at the third kick.

The man then ran away. Another man who was with him walked off in another direction. The police are investigating this vandal act and it is understood that other footage from a different angle also exists.

Meanwhile, a witness who saw the head of Mr Apap fall off yesterday believes this time round it was not the work of vandals.

“A person was about to sit on the empty chair of the monument when the head crashed down,” the witness said.

However, the authorities suspect the statue may have been damaged or tampered with earlier.

The headless statue yesterday became an instant attraction as passers-by, rather than sitting in the empty chair, posed behind it putting their own head in place of the celebrity’s.

The company that produced the monument, Mediterranean Ceramics, had replaced the head of Mr Clews as it happened to have another model, which had been made during the sculpting process.

Mr Grima had said the artistry behind the piece, sculpted by artist Brian Green, was the bronze effect on the ceramic. He had pointed out that ceramic was not as strong as bronze or stone, but said that it did not automatically mean it should be damaged.

The handcrafted monument took about three months to complete.