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A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.

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

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.

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

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

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; £68,000), 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”.