Hobart Covid hotel absconder Tim Gunn fails to appeal his prison sentence in court

A NSW man who escaped hotel quarantine and plunged southern Tasmania into lockdown showed a “complete, repeated and consistent disregard for the law”, a Hobart judge has said.

A MAN who sparked a three-day lockdown in southern Tasmania by breaking out of hotel quarantine while infected with Covid has lost an appeal against the length of his jail term.

Albury resident Timothy Andrew Gunn, 31, has failed to convince the Supreme Court of Tasmania that his jail term – handed down by the Magistrates Court in December – of 10 months, with four suspended, was “manifestly excessive”.

In his judgment delivered Monday, Justice Stephen Estcourt said magistrates had a “very wide sentencing discretion”, and that appeal courts should not interfere unless errors had been made.

“This requires something beyond being too lenient or too harsh,” he said.

The judge also said his sentences were “fairly reflective of the totality of his criminal conduct”.

He said upon entry to Tasmania, Gunn falsely claimed he’d come from Queensland rather than NSW, with a biosecurity support officer noting he appeared under the influence of drugs or alcohol – talking fast, visibly shaking and twitching.

Tim Gunn. Picture: Facebook.

“Whilst being transported to the hotel, the applicant told police he was ‘pissed off’ about having to quarantine, that he would be talking to someone about ‘the situation’ and that he should not have to have quarantine because he had not come from a ‘hotspot’,” Justice Estcourt said.

After leaving the Travelodge hotel via a fire exit, Gunn then attended Woolworths at Bridgewater and a woman’s home – where he was later found by police.

In his appeal hearing last week, Gunn lawyer Pip Monk argued his criminal actions and the consequential three-day lockdown should be viewed separately.

She said the fact he ultimately tested positive for Covid had not been a determinative factor in sentencing, and noted he’d been unaware of his positive status when he entered Tasmania.

She said if he’d entered Tasmania now, or any time from December 15, his entry would have been lawful.

Gunn was also jailed for breaching family violence orders after phoning and texting a woman 511 times over a fortnight last October, including several calls from his hotel room after he was returned to quarantine.

Tim Gunn. Picture: Facebook.

Ms Monk argued the woman had been complicit in the contact, with the breaches occurring “at a time when he was relatively isolated and didn’t have anyone else to contact other than the complainant”.

Justice Estcourt said while the sentence imposed for the family violence orders “might be described as heavy”, he was not persuaded his punishment was “unreasonable or plainly unjust”.

He said the sentence handed down for breaching Covid orders was “well within” the magistrate’s discretion.

“The applicant’s entire course of conduct demonstrated a complete, repeated and consistent disregard for the law and the consequences of the conduct were significant, including a three day lockdown of southern Tasmania,” he said.

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Originally published as Hobart Covid hotel absconder Tim Gunn fails to appeal his prison sentence in court