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A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.

In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

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

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

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 prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.