Last week, 21-year-old Jack Gibson-Burrel, the accused creator of the infamous “Pam the Bird,” was arrested and charged with 50 offenses including criminal burglary, motor theft and around $100,000 worth of graffiti-related damage.
Gibson-Burrel faced Melbourne Magistrate’s Court following a string of cartoon-like murals that sprung up across Melbourne’s cityscape over the last six months. Alongside him, 39-year-old Matthew Raoul White has also been charged for criminal damage linked to the “SROCK” tag often seen with the bird.
Over the last several years, Pam the Bird gained a cult following on social media, rising to the status of a mascot in the city’s western suburbs, with appearances sprawled across metro rails, road signs and towering landmarks, like the Channel Nine building, Flinders Street Station, and just last week, the Novotel South Wharf.
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Evidence presented in court included CCTV footage allegedly capturing Gibson-Burrel delivering boxes of Pam merch emblazoned with the bird motif. Authorities also noted handwriting analyses, bank records and email addresses linked to the goodbirdart Instagram account tie him to the crime.
Detective Senior Constable Scott Nicholls testified that Gibson-Burrel was the only person caught painting Pam the Bird in Australia, claiming all instances of the graffiti were the work of one individual.
Prior to the arrests, the bird murals sparked debate across Melbourne, with some comparing the bird to the city’s street art-covered laneways, and others calling it “pure vandalism.”
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