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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without damaging the art piece.

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

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

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

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.