Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture

A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.

A day after the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

She added the council would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

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

Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.