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A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

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

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

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

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.