🔗 Share this article

A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a individual putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished 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 people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She added the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.