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A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

A day after the reported event, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

The mayor said the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.