Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture

A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

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

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She added the council would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

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 marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.