Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture

A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

The mayor said the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received 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 artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.