Karnaljeet Kaur Brar slapped with $25,000 after exposing aged-care residents to Covid in 2020
A nurse, who knew she was sick with Covid, ignored the rules to isolate and instead went to work at a Highett aged-care home.
South East
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A nurse went to work in an aged care facility during the first of the Covid outbreaks while knowingly sick with the deadly virus, a court has heard.
Karnaljeet Kaur Brar, of Clyde North, fronted Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, October 26, where she pleaded guilty to failing take reasonable care for the health and safety of persons at the workplace. but escaped conviction.
On July 26, 2020, during the peak of the early Covid outbreaks, Brar went to her GP while sick with a fever.
Brar’s GP advised her to get tested for Covid, and to not attend work until she had received her results.
Despite this, Brar attended work at a Highett aged-care facility that evening, undertaking the mandatory temperature testing and declaration which included her claiming she was not suffering from any symptoms at the time.
Brar obtained a swab test at a later date, where she then tested positive.
Following her diagnosis, Bear declared she had not been to work within the five days before her swab test.
Duncan Chisholm, prosecuting for the WorkCover Authority, told the court this was a “clear disregard to community safety”.
“Ultimately, this is a very serious matter, where Ms Brar was a qualified and registered nurse, working in an aged care facility with vulnerable members of the community,” he said.
“It was her duty to care for the residents. She attended work and falsely claimed she didn’t have symptoms on three occasions.”
Mr Chisholm was seeking a significant fine and conviction as Brar “ought to have known” the risks as a healthcare professional.
“It’s submitted that it is appropriate to convict her, because this is very serious offending,” Mr Chisholm said.
“To state the obvious, we all knew at that point what Covid was — we knew the risks of transmission, and the role of lockdowns and control mechanisms available, referring to isolation.
“She was aware of her symptoms and attended her GP. She should have known what a Covid symptom was, and if she didn’t, her GP provided her with advice to not return to work.”
Brar studied nursing and graduated from University of Tasmania in 2019, before moving to Melbourne to begin working in aged-care.
The court heard Brar had been receiving threatening messages from a former partner at the time of her offending, clouding her judgment.
Brar’s defence asked the court to consider a non-conviction, as while Brar was an Australian citizen, her new husband was not, and therefore would be ineligible to apply for a partner visa to remain in the country.
Magistrate David Starvaggi said Brar’s actions required “complete denunciation of her actions”.
“As we all know, tragically, many people passed away as a result of Covid outbreaks in other aged-care places. Fortunately that didn’t occur in this instance,” he said.
“This is a demonstrable example of a flagrant and persistent degree of disregard was deceitful, and was intended for Ms Brar to continue attending work.”
Magistrate Starvaggi said he found it “astounding” that the only sentencing option available to the court for Brar’s offending was monetary.
“Ms Brar has pleaded guilty at the very first opportunity, and I am taking into account the character reference from her sister,” he said.
“I am taking that as a demonstration of her contrition. But, a loud and strong message must be sent to people in positions of trust, such as health care workers and anyone else in charge of caring for vulnerable members of the community.”
Magistrate Starvaggi fined Brar $25,000 without conviction, and said he was giving her “the benefit of the doubt, given that there are no prior convictions”.
Brar’s nursing registration will be considered at VCAT later in the year.
gemma.scerri@news.com.au
