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A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to media sources, 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 local mayor stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

When the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.