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A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

The accused made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.

A day after the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.

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

The mayor added the council would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

When the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.