Clayton Eade: Bondi Beach cougher told cops he didn’t have COVID-19
A soon-to-be dad who coughed on a police officer after refusing to leave Bondi Beach has made an emotional plea in court after being threatened with a ban from the iconic stretch of sand.
Central Sydney
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A young man who coughed at a police officer after refusing to leave Bondi Beach has pleaded to be allowed to return to the scene, telling a court it is the resting place of his dead mum.
But Clayton Eade has now been banned from stepping foot east of Campbell Pde for the next three months after he was convicted for charges including resisting and intimidating police on Monday.
Eade, 21, appeared via video link before Central Local Court sporting the thick cast on his right arm which was seen during his dramatic arrest at the iconic beach about 10am on Sunday morning.
The man from Griffith in NSW’s Riverina region pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a council notice, failing to comply with a police order and the resist and intimidate charges.
In repeated outburst during his sentencing the expectant father bristled at the idea of being banned from visiting the famous stretch of sand.
“After my mother died … we spread her ashes at Bondi Beach,” he said. “It’s very close to my heart. I won’t go on the sand, I won’t break the law.
“Being able to see the ocean at Bondi, it reminds me of my mum.”
His lawyer Paul Johnson argued that Eade’s hand getting caught in the lining of his pocket may have exacerbated the appearance of resisting arrest.
Mr Johnson said the cough was not “fake” and that his client did not mean to frighten the officer.
“What? I don’t have coronavirus,” the court heard Eade said to police.
Magistrate Clare Farnan sentenced him to an eight-month intensive corrections order for facing and coughing at a Senior Constable from a range of “one to two metres”.
The court heard Eade had brushed off directions from lifeguards who spotted him walking on the sand of the closed beach, saying he would “wait for police” to force him to leave.
Magistrate Farnan accepted his guilty pleas showed “some level” of remorse but labelled the reason for Eade’s refusal to move on as “something of a mystery”.
“To describe this conduct as foolish would be something of an understatement,” she said.
“Unfortunately Mr Eade put his own selfish desires before the interests of the community.”
She also fined him $300 and imposed an 18 month community corrections order for resisting arrest.
Eade can’t return to Bondi Beach until July 5, 2020.