Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
