Australian Teen Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork

A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.