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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

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

When the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.