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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.