James Liske fined for breaching COVID rules after viral cop video

It can now be revealed why a man filmed himself yelling at police after he refused to self-isolate after returning from Victoria at the height of COVID.

A man who filmed himself and his partner refusing coronavirus compliance checks from police has been fined thousands of dollars after it was revealed he took his children to and from daycare on three occasions, despite being ordered into mandatory 14-day isolation.

James Liske, from Kiama on the south coast of NSW, posted a video to Facebook of he and his 37-year-old partner berating a police officer who was trying to conduct a compliance check after they’d returned from Victoria.

James Liske leaves Kiama Local Court in October 2020. Picture: Madeline Crittenden. 

Liske initially denied the allegations, however in bizarre scenes at Kiama Court on Tuesday, told Magistrate Susan McGowan his name was James Settler and that James Liske was a “dead entity”.

“I am not in possession of the character being sued,” he yelled in court.

“Mr Liske is a dead entity.”

After almost an hour of yelling at the magistrate and ‘objecting’ to police prosecutor Rob Casey, Liske was removed from the court by police. He and a large group of supporters lashed out at waiting media while a hearing into his breach of public health orders was held in his absence.

The police view of a now-viral video showed the 36-year-old and his partner refusing to open the door for Senior Constable Alex Reilly in July last year, asking him for his name and “insurance policy number”.

Liske accused the police officer of trespassing on his property, saying “I‘m going to go after you personally. Not the NSW Police”.

Prior to the video, Liske and his partner were granted Category A permits from Service NSW and travelled through the Hume Highway checkpoint at Albury, where they were made aware of the requirements to self-isolate for 14 days at their residential address.

Police conducted compliance checks at the Kiama address on July 14, July 15 and July 21, and provided information about self-isolation requirements on each occasion.

James Liske tried to ask for the help of police at one of his prior court appearances. Picture: Madeline Crittenden. 

During the hearing, the court heard Liske, who was required to remain at his residential address with his wife and their two children until July 26, left the home on several occasions between July 20 and 22 to take the kids to preschool.

The court heard the children attended preschool on at least three occasions until the director of the centre reported the matter to police.

Following inquiries, police confirmed the couple had each been fined $1000 and Liske was ordered to attend court today for failing to comply with public health directions.

Magistrate Susan McGowan on Tuesday found Liske had breached the public health orders, labelling his behaviour “selfish and self-indulgent”.

“COVID-19 will probably never go away, it’s very contagious and it would bring disaster if a Kiama preschool had to close because a child had it (the virus),” she said.

“It was up to the parents to do the right thing, do it for everybody … This was selfish, self indulgent, not caring for society and flying in the face of science.”

She also noted Liske’s behaviour in the video he filmed of police closely resembled his antics in the courtroom on Tuesday.

As a result, Magistrate McGowan convicted Liske for not complying with the health orders and fined him $5000.

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