{"id":261065,"date":"2025-11-04T03:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/261065\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T03:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:10:11","slug":"mount-gambier-woman-charged-over-damage-to-citys-cast-in-blue-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/261065\/","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":261066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3443,64,63,467,153481,153480,469,92458,2456,153479,468,153478,85],"class_list":["post-261065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adelaide","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blue-blob","tag-blue-blob-vandalism","tag-blue-bob-damaged","tag-cast-in-blue","tag-controversial","tag-facebook","tag-main-corner","tag-mount-gambier","tag-riddoch-art-gallery","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}