Alice Springs Legal Aid staffer to be tested for coronavirus after sharing plane with positive case

AN entire office of the NT Legal Aid Commission could be forced into self-isolation after a staff member shared a plane with a person infected with COVID-19, a court has heard.

An NT Legal Aid staffer in will be tested for coronavirus after sharing a flight with one of the NT’s 17 confirmed cases, a court has heard.

A LEGAL Aid staffer in Alice Springs will be tested for coronavirus after sharing a flight with one of the NT’s 19 confirmed cases, a court has heard.

Defence lawyer Noah Redmond told the Supreme Court on Tuesday the entire Centralian Legal Aid office would have to go into isolation if the exposed staffer tested positive.

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During the hearing, Mr Redmond asked Justice Jenny Blokland to make an order directing him to appear in person for the sentencing of his client, Yves Calica, who last month pleaded guilty to causing serious harm to a man he punched outside a bar.

“A staff member at Legal Aid has been exposed to somebody who’s tested positive to coronavirus, they themselves have not yet been tested, I am not legally required to isolate,” he said.

“However, it’s a policy of Legal Aid that I not be doing appearances in court in person unless I’m directed to attend by the court.”

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Mr Redmond requested a three week adjournment so he could arrange to be in court in person but said “that is subject to the staff member being tested”.

“If she is a negative test, there’s no impediment to me returning,” he said.

“However, if she returns a positive test I would then be required to go into self-isolation, as would the remainder of NT Legal Aid in Alice Springs.”

In adjourning the hearing until April 21, Justice Blokland declined to make an order for Mr Redmond to appear in person but noted it was “a public safety matter” and “there is a need to be flexible”.

“Mr Redmond is subject to, obviously, a matter that legal aid need to take seriously, none of us know whether we’ll be affected in some way like this in the near future,” she said.

“It may be that by then, depending on what happens in the NT, that I might be hearing it from home, I might be hearing it in court, I might be hearing you both by phone, I don’t know.”

Last month the court heard Calica was hoping to avoid deportation after his sentencing was set down for a date after his scheduled citizenship ceremony on March 20.

At the time, Justice Blokland said it seemed unlikely he would be allowed to stay post-sentencing but her packed court schedule meant he would get his lifeline.

Calica had been due to be sentenced on Friday and remains on bail until he returns to court.