🔗 Share this article

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

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She added the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.