Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage captured a individual placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
