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A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, 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 moment of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage captured a individual putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage 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 frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

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

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.