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

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage captured a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor said the local government would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

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