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A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

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

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

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