🔗 Share this article

A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

The mayor said the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.