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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual placing 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 media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive 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,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

The mayor added the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

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

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; £68,000), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.