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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork 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 members of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

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

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.