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

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

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

“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

The mayor said the local government would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

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

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.