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A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused made no plea and told the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the art piece.

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

She said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.