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A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

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

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

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.