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A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 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 property damage.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.