Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
