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A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

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

She said the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.