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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

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

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

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

The mayor added the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

When the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), 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”.