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

The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of 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 person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

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

When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

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