🔗 Share this article

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

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.

A day after the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.

Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.