🔗 Share this article

A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

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

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.