{"id":161657,"date":"2025-11-04T04:01:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/161657\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T04:01:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:01:14","slug":"mount-gambier-woman-charged-over-damage-to-citys-cast-in-blue-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/161657\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Gambier woman charged over damage to city’s Cast in Blue sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 19-year-old Mount Gambier woman has appeared in court for the first time accused of damaging the city’s controversial Cast in Blue sculpture by sticking googly eyes on it.<\/p>\n

Amelia Vanderhorst is charged with one count of damaging property over the incident, which allegedly occurred on September 13.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, police allege Ms Vanderhorst was “recklessly indifferent” as to whether her conduct damaged the sculpture.<\/p>\n

Police estimated the damage at less than $2,500.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cast in Blue sits next to the Cave Garden in Mount Gambier. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n

Controversy over cost<\/p>\n

The Cast in Blue sculpture received some public backlash over its appearance and because it cost the City of Mount Gambier $136,000<\/a> at the same time as rates increased by 10 per cent in 2024 and by 8 per cent in 2025.<\/p>\n

The artwork is meant to represent a mythical version of the megafauna once found in the South East<\/a>, but in the colour of the city’s iconic Blue Lake.<\/p>\n

Cast in Blue was installed in July and is known locally as the “Blue Blob”.<\/p>\n

Around two weeks after its installation, chunks of paint were chipped off it, however, no-one was charged over that incident, despite the council passing CCTV onto SA Police.<\/p>\n

Then on September 15, council said stickers were placed on the sculpture but the adhesive could not be removed without damaging its surface.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/p>\n

Damage to the Cast in Blue sculpture as seen on September 15. (ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert)<\/p>\n

Ms Vanderhorst was charged over the incident.<\/p>\n

Costs to be pursued<\/p>\n

Appearing in Mount Gambier Magistrates Court via phone on Tuesday, Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea.<\/p>\n

“I am very sick at the moment,” she told the court.<\/p>\n

“I’m just really high on pain meds as well.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Restoration work underway on the Cast in Blue sculpture on September 22. (Supplied: City of Mount Gambier)<\/p>\n

Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos advised Ms Vanderhorst to find a lawyer before her next appearance in December.<\/p>\n

At the time of the September damage to the statue, Mayor Lynette Martin said the council would be pursuing costs from the person responsible.<\/p>\n

“People don’t have to like it, but they don’t have to be creating wilful damage in this way,” Ms Martin said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s inappropriate and disrespectful and there’s many members of our community who’ve embraced Cast in Blue.<\/p>\n

“Rectifying the damage will result in significant repair expenses.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 19-year-old Mount Gambier woman has appeared in court for the first time accused of damaging the city’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[16044,365,362,363,364,93677,93682,93681,93676,93680,366,18,117,877,19,17,93679,39199,93678],"class_list":{"0":"post-161657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-adelaide","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-blue-blob","14":"tag-blue-blob-vandalism","15":"tag-blue-bob-damaged","16":"tag-cast-in-blue","17":"tag-controversial","18":"tag-design","19":"tag-eire","20":"tag-entertainment","21":"tag-facebook","22":"tag-ie","23":"tag-ireland","24":"tag-main-corner","25":"tag-mount-gambier","26":"tag-riddoch-art-gallery"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115489438831543986","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}