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A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

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

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.