Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork

A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

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

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She said the council would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.