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

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that CCTV footage showed a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She added the local government would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the sculpture 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; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.