Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture

A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.

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