🔗 Share this article

A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a individual putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

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

When the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.