🔗 Share this article

A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She added the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.