🔗 Share this article

A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.

Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.