🔗 Share this article Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork Authorities stated they could not take off the eyes without harming the artwork. A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it. Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property. In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”. Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year. The affected sculpture following the stickers were taken off. A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the sculpture. “This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.” The mayor added the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage. At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and design. Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”. Cast in Blue is its official name but locals nicknamed the artwork the ‘Blue Blob’.