🔗 Share this article

A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in December.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She added the local government would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.