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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

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

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

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