Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date 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 were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
