Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
