In a wild twist that we definitely did not see coming, street artist Anthony Lister has been charged over an incident two years ago, that saw obscene graffiti plastered on the Sydney offices of PR queen Roxy Jacenko.
Back in 2019, Roxy Jacenko was absolutely disgusted to say that some pillock had spray painted the words ‘Roxy Is A C–t’ on the Paddington office of her PR company Sweaty Betty, and she put a call out to the public for information.
The culprits were filmed on CCTV, but were never identified, until this week, when Lister and Sydney socialite Anthony Hess were charged with ”aggravated intentionally marking premises etc without consent.”
Police allege that the pair tagged the Sweaty Betty offices as well as a nearby skip bin between 1.38am and 1.40am on April 24, 2019. The same night also saw graffiti sprayed at other locations across the city, including Woollahra and Bondi Junction.
In February of 2020, Roxy Jacenko applied for a restraining order against Hess, claiming that she was “living in fear” as a result of an alleged harassment campaign. She suspected him of the graffiti at the time, and this was one of the grounds on which she sought the order.
At the time, the application was unsuccessful, and as he left court, Hess said: “Look how many enemies she’s got, half of Sydney hates her. Who wouldn’t want to graffiti her?”
Artist Anthony Lister is currently facing unrelated charges of sexual assault, and according to the Daily Mail, police raided his home in May of 2020 and discovered a GoPro SD Card.
Officers claimed that upon review of the SD card, three videos were found that depicted the alleged vandalism. The card was then handed over to police investigating the 2019 graffiti attacks.
Last week, a former friend of Hess’ attended Surry Hills Police Station and gave a statement claiming that she was with him and Lister on the night the offices were tagged, and she witnessed the incident.
Roxy Jacenko herself has since spoken out to the media, saying:
“Myself and my legal team Olivia Hitchins and barrister Greg James QC worked so hard to get justice giving so many pieces of evidence which matched every move and every piece of graffiti.”
Lister’s lawyer has indicated that he will defend the charges, saying:
“The matter is currently before court and will be dealt with there. However this is certainly not a Lister and our client shouldn’t be given credit for this attempt at artwork.”
Hess, who is currently based in Los Angeles, has been issued a summons to appear in court on June 8.
