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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone 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 municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told 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 the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

She added the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.

When the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.