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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge recommending 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 costly as the stickers could not be removed without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said 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.”

The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the local community due to its cost and design.

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 prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.