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A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.

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

The accused made no plea and told the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

The mayor said the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.