🔗 Share this article

A young person from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video captured a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.