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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large 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 South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

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

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