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

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

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video captured a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

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

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

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

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.