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A young person from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in December.

The following day the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.

When the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.