Australian Teen Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.
A day after the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished 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 people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
