Australian Teen Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Googly 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 mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing 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 costly as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She added the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the creators inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
