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A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

The mayor said the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.