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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending 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 repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor said the local government would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

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

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.