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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a individual placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative 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 popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork 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 Cast in Blue.”

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

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.