Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
A day after the reported event, 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 sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
