🔗 Share this article

A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of property damage.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not 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 mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

The mayor said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

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

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.