Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
