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A man described in court as Croatia’s answer to Banksy climbed onto a scaffold in Cork to enter a building and then began to paint rooms blue.
Leo Tihic, 26, was caught blue-handed on the scene while the young artist was in the middle of his Blue Period. He had been in custody from August 10 until today on the charge of breaking into the building to cause criminal damage.
A psychiatric report on the defendant was prepared at the request of Judge Olann Kelleher and today it was confirmed that the defendant had no psychiatric difficulties.
Tihic pleaded guilty to the burglary charge. His lawyer Joseph Cuddigan said the defendant was studying film making in Galway for the past two years and had been in Cork for only ten days when he was arrested for this crime in a building on the South Mall in Cork.
“It was a construction site and he climbed a ladder to access it. Inside was a can of blue paint and a brush and he painted the walls with it.
“I don’t know if he saw himself as Croatia’s answer to Banksy,” Cuddigan said, but added that the young man is an artist.
Mr. Cuddigan said the young man had been in custody since August 10 and asked the judge to take into account the time served when he was imposing the sentence yesterday.
Judge Olann Kelleher said he would take this into consideration. Yesterday the matter ended fining Tihic € 500.
Sergeant John Kelleher outlined the background to today’s incident.
“On August 2, at approximately 8.30 pm, Gardaí received a report of a man climbing a scaffold at the site at 29 South Mall, Cork. They went to the scene but could not access the site and it was secured.
“Contact was made with Llavero, who was the building’s construction contractor.
“Gardaí could immediately see a man standing there rummaging through his own bag.
“Garda Brendan Ryan was able to see that there was paint on the wall and confirmed with the construction manager that he was not there when he secured the building.
“Leo Tihic was arrested for the crime of robbery.
“Gardaí found that several more rooms in the building had been painted.
“It was discovered that the upper deck had been entered through a window secured with plywood that had been knocked down.
“It appears that Mr. Tihic was planning to spend the night in the dormitory and did not have a fixed address in Cork.”
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