Coronavirus Qld: Olivia Muranga, Diana Lasu, Haja Timbo to face court over alleged COVID-19 fraud
The three southeast Queensland women who health authorities claim were responsible for the state’s most recent COVID-19 clusters have faced court, charged with fraud, after they allegedly misled police upon their return to the state from COVID-riddled Melbourne. SEE THE PICTURES
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The three women accused of sparking a dangerous coronavirus cluster misled authorities on the Queensland border pass documents they gave to emergency officers at the Brisbane Airport, police will allege.
The women, Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, Haja Uma Timbo, 21, and Diana Lasu, 21, are each charged with one count of fraud and one of producing false or misleading documents.
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It’s alleged the trio travelled to Melbourne in July where they hosted an Airbnb party in a Melbourne CBD apartment despite the virus-riddled city being in hard lockdown.
The trio faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning for the first time where they each had their case adjourned to next month.
According to court documents, when the women flew into the Brisbane Airport about 8pm on July 21, they each gave an emergency officer a Queensland border “knowing the said document contained information that was false… namely the information (they) provided was true and correct and that (they) had not been in a COVID-19 hotspot in the last 14 days”.
The women are also charged with fraud by dishonestly gaining the benefit of avoiding the mandatory 14-day self-quarantine.
Parts of southeast Queensland had COVID restrictions reinstated as health authorities rushed to trace close contacts and prevent a widespread outbreak.
Weeks later, up to 50 cases of coronavirus were detected in an outbreak at the Brisbane Youth Detention and police training academy.
Authorities believe both clusters were linked and genomic testing revealed it was the same strain as contracted by the Logan women.
Health authorities have since confirmed they believe the clusters originated from the Logan women with a ‘missing link’ case spreading it to the detention centre outbreak.
All three women appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning for the first mention of their charges.
Twenty-year-old Heritage Park woman Olivia Muranga, who was born in Tanzania, and 21-year-old Acacia Ridge woman Diana Lasu who was born in Sudan, each had their matters adjourned to October 28 to allow their lawyers time to case conference with prosecutors.
Algester woman Haja Timbo, who was born in Sierra Leone, had her case adjourned to October 21 after her lawyer asked for a three-week adjournment to allow time to make submissions to prosecutors.
The three accused women were each represented by separate lawyers and did not appear to interact with one another while at court. All three arrived and left court separately and did not comment to media.
The women faced a maximum penalty of a $13,345 fine if convicted of providing false or misleading documents under the health act while the maximum penalty for the fraud charge is five years’ imprisonment.
It’s alleged the trio travelled to Melbourne in July where they hosted an Airbnb party in a Melbourne CBD apartment despite the city being in hard lockdown.
Two days later they allegedly lied to get back into Queensland after flying through Sydney meaning they were not forced to isolate after allegedly falsely declaring they had not been in COVID hotspot Melbourne.
It’s understood Muranga and Lasu were infected with COVID-19 and moved freely around the community for eight days before they were detected by authorities and placed under police guard in hospital.
At the time, Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said she was “bitterly disappointed” Queensland had been put at risk by the women.
“They went to extraordinary lengths to be deceitful and deceptive and quite frankly criminal in their behaviour and that is what has put the community at risk,” she said.
The women’s re-entry into Queensland came just two days after they were busted hosting a loud and drunken party at a short-term rental in Melbourne’s CBD.
The virus-riddled city was in hard lockdown when they were found with a group of up to 30 people at the city apartment.
Police responding to a noise complaint busted up the party, removed them all from the rental property and handed out more than $30,000 in fines.
The trio were told they’d breached Victoria’s health directives and fined $1652.
The women will not be required to appear at the next mention of their case if they are represented by their lawyers.
Originally published as Coronavirus Qld: Olivia Muranga, Diana Lasu, Haja Timbo to face court over alleged COVID-19 fraud