Australian Teen Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture

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

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.