Australian Teen Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork

A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and informed the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

The mayor added the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.