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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

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

When the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.