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A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.

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

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the art piece.

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

She added the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

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

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.