Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage captured a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
A day after the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
