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A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge recommending her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

She added the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

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

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.