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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

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

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

A day after the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

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

Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.