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A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming 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 harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She said the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

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

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.