Magistrate claims Samantha Jane Facey made up coronavirus quarantine to avoid court

‘She was making it up’: The court heard the Magistrate tell the court the woman was in Sydney reportedly a week before restrictions started.

Samantha Jane Facey, 34, fronted Lismore Local Court in regards to an annulment hearing.

A Lismore woman, who claimed she couldn’t make her court date due to Covid-19 quarantine, has been slammed by a magistrate who labelled the excuse as false.

Samantha Jane Facey, 34, fronted Lismore Local Court in regards to an annulment hearing over a sole charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The court heard Facey was due to front court on June 29 but did not appear or notify the court.

When she was asked to give evidence as to her whereabouts, Facey said she had travelled with a friend to Sydney on June 19.

She told the court she was unaware coronavirus or related restrictions were circulating in the area at the time.

“We hadn’t heard of them … we kinda freaked out when we found out,” she said.

Facey claimed she returned home that same night and went into quarantine.

She told the court prior to her due appearance, she tried ringing both the Lismore Police Station and the Lismore Legal Aid office but both didn’t respond.

“I called probably four to five days before the court date because my dad was on my case,” she said.

She claimed she got both numbers off Google and didn’t think about calling the Courthouse itself.

When cross-examined by the police prosecutor who told Facey that the Lismore Police Station number diverts to four different stations when occupied, the accused insisted she tried calling about three times each day leading up to her appearance.

She also told him she had received a new phone in early July and therefore couldn’t produce her phone or its history during the hearing.

Magistrate Michael Dakin said Facey’s evidence left him with no indication what her appeal case was.

He told Facey’s solicitor Belinda O’Dwyer that the Sydney lockdown didn’t begin until June 26, after her alleged visit.

“The lockdown in Sydney hadn’t started until a week later,” he said.

“My impression was that she was making it up.”

Given that, he dismissed the annulment application.

Ms O’Dwyer asked Facey be given a two-week adjournment to organise some evidence.

Magistrate Dakin adjourned the matter for an August 23 sentence in Lismore Local Court.