Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
