Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork

A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a individual putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

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

When the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.