Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.
A day after the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art 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 members of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
