🔗 Share this article

A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, 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 city leader stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

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

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.