🔗 Share this article Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture The local council stated they could not take off the eyes without harming the artwork. A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it. The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage. In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”. Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December. The affected sculpture following the stickers were taken off. A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without damaging the art piece. “This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.” She said the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage. When the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance. Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”. The sculpture is its formal title but locals nicknamed the artwork the ‘Blue Blob’.