A 35-year-old man is the first Australian person to be jailed for breaching COVID-19 rules after he snuck of of a dedicated quarantine hotel to visit his girlfriend.
Jonathan David had travelled from Victoria and was sent into quarantine at the Travelodge Hotel for 14 days.
Despite strict instructions not to leave the venue, David snuck out of the hotel on multiple occasions and used public transport to visit his girlfriend in Armadale.
Appearing in court today, David plead guilty after he was accused of twice failing to comply with a self-isolation directive issued under the Emergency Management Act.
Magistrate Elaine Campione slammed his actions, saying he “chose to roll the dice with other people’s lives”.
“We must protect the community from those who do not care,” she said.
Police said he wedged open a fire exit door at the hotel so he could leave and reenter without staff seeing him.
A police prosecutor previously described David’s actions as “gross stupidity”.
He was sentenced to six months and two weeks behind bars, with all but one month suspended and fined $2,000.
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