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

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

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without damaging the art piece.

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

She added the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing 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 discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.