Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.