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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the sculpture.

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

The mayor said the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.