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A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

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

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused made no plea and informed the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.