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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly 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 Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.