Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
The following day the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork 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 society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents 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”.
