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

The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

She added the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.