Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She added the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
