Victorian woman wins appeal against prison sentence for having beach picnic with dying dad during WA quarantine

A woman punished for breaching Covid-19 rules to have a picnic with her dying father has secured a major victory.

Amber* knew her dying father was running out of time, so she travelled from Victoria to Western Australia to say goodbye.

They sat together on a picnic rug at Koombana Beach in Bunbury one last time in October 2020.

But in Amber’s desire to make their final moment together special, she breached WA’s strict Covid-19 rules – and it proved to be costly.

The dying father and his daughter sat on a picnic rug at the beach. Picture: Google Maps

According to WA Supreme Court documents, Amber’s father had been seriously ill with colon cancer and was in the palliative care ward of a hospital that allowed her to visit during quarantine to say goodbye.

But when he was moved to a different hospital, Amber was no longer allowed to visit.

Relatives instead drove her father to the beach where they all spent a couple of hours together.

Amber did not wear a mask and bought takeaway drinks from a cafe in breach of the rules.

She initially lied to police, saying she did not leave her car, but when she was shown a CCTV image she cried and revealed the truth.

In December last year, the now 50-year-old woman pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a direction.

She was sentenced to six months and one day in prison, which was suspended for a period of one year.

But she took her case to the WA Supreme Court, and this week Justice Joseph McGrath determined the sentence was “manifestly excessive” and the magistrate had erred.

Amber was instead fined $1000 and granted a spent conviction, which means she will not have it on her record.

The woman took her case to the WA Supreme Court. Picture: Ross Swanborough

Justice McGrath said Amber was of good character and had no criminal record.

He also noted she was a mother and had been caring for her ill husband at the time as well.

The judge said while general deterrence was a significant sentencing factor, so too was Amber’s excellent antecedents.

“The imposition of a suspended term of imprisonment is unreasonable and plainly unjust when regard is had to the circumstances of the appellant’s offending and factors personal to her,” Justice McGrath said.

“She lawfully entered WA after making all necessary inquiries and applications to enter with permission to visit her dying elderly father.

“The appellant understood that she was permitted to visit her father at the hospital. That was so until her father, a patient in palliative care, was transferred to the second hospital.

“The appellant committed the breach in the most extenuating of circumstances.”

Justice McGrath further noted Amber had a negative coronavirus test result on day two of her quarantine and was “actively meeting her obligations”.

“The appellant was remorseful, accepted responsibility for her offending and pleaded guilty at the first reasonable opportunity,” he said.

*Amber is not the woman’s actual name.