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A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

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

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

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.