🔗 Share this article

A young person from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the reported event, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members 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 vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.