Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She added the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
