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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.

In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage captured a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in December.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

She said the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

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

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.