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A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained 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 court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.