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

The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by 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 city leader said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

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

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.