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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

The mayor added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.