🔗 Share this article

A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.

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

She added the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.