Australian Teen Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
