A 30-year-old Sydney man who returned from overseas less than two weeks ago has been refused bail after allegedly ignoring NSW state self-isolation laws three times, including one where he allegedly attempted to leave a police-monitored quarantine apartment.
The Edensor Park man is said to have returned to Australia from Jordan on March 18th. At that time, returning travellers were being order to self-isolate in their homes for 14 days.
According to police allegations, the Edensor Park man was arrested two days after arriving back in the country on an outstanding warrant. At the time, he was granted bail with a court-mandated condition that he self-isolate at his home.
This past Saturday afternoon, however, police allegedly found the man in Pagewood in Sydney’s south-east, some 40km away from his Edensor Park home. He was handed a $1,000 on-the-spot fine for ignoring the self-isolation order.
Incredibly enough, police allege that officers encountered the man out and about again just 9 hours later at around 10pm Saturday evening. This time the 30-year-old was stopped on Pitt St in the Sydney CBD. At that point he was formally charged with ignoring a self-isolation order and breaching bail.
He was again granted bail by the Downing Street Local Court, but at that time refused to self-isolate at his home in Edensor Park. Instead, police then ordered that he self-isolate at a serviced apartment in Camperdown which police would monitor.
When police brought him to the apartment yesterday, he was arrested yet again after allegedly attempting to leave the building.
This time, he was refused bail and remanded in police custody ahead of a court appearance scheduled for today.
The individual incident is so outrageous that it drew comment from Police Minister David Elliott, who stated “this repeat offender’s reckless and selfish behaviour could have dangerous consequences.”
In unrelated news, Victoria Police have thus far issued no fines or infringement notices regarding the baffling saga of several wealthy Melburnians who are alleged to have spread coronavirus across several people after ignoring self-isolation recommendations upon returning from a skiing trip in Aspen.
