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A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.

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

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, according to 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 city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

When the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.