Tasmania’s Covidiots revealed as a result of coronavirus restrictions

From a man who broke out of hotel quarantine and sent the state into lockdown to another who dodged authorities to get a sandwich - we reveal the names of those busted for Covid breaches >>

THE coronavirus pandemic changed our lives in plenty more ways than one, but it also ushered in a new wave of restrictions that caught some people on the wrong side of the law.

From dodging quarantine, repeatedly failing to wear a mask, and committing crimes during a lockdown period, these are some of the people pinged by police for breaking the rules.

Many cases do not make it to court and are instead dealt with by the issuing of fines.

Covid-positive man sparks snap-lockdown after escaping hotel quarantine

NSW man Tim Gunn is accused of sending Southern Tasmania into a three-day lockdown after the man escaped hotel quarantine and visited Hobart's northern suburbs.

The 31-year-old allegedly spent 18 hours in the community before he was picked up by police and tested positive to the delta strain of the virus.

Following the lockdown Gunn has since apologised for his actions.

“I would hope sometime soon, Tasmania could find it in their heart to forgive me.” Mr Gunn told 7Tasmania Nightly News. 

Tim Gunn taken from his Facebook page.

Mr Gunn pleaded ignorance, claiming he did not realise he needed to quarantine, despite the fact he was taken to the Travelodge and given a room.

“I didn’t escape or anything like that, I simply walked out,” Mr Gunn said.

“I did not do this on purpose, it definitely wasn’t an act of selfishness or carelessness,”

Mr Gunn has been fined more than $3100 for breaching quarantine, but he has not been charged.

‘Why I broke out of quarantine to get a sandwich’

Queensland man Trent Reeve broke out of hotel quarantine to buy a Subway sandwich and bluetooth speakers.

It was a decision that landed him in jail for 15 days.

The then 35-year-old arrived at Hobart Airport from Brisbane on August 17 last year and was taken to the nearby Travelodge Hotel.

That night, Reeve climbed out his window and went to a nearby service station, spent $130 on a bluetooth speaker, two iced coffees, a bottle of Coca-Cola, two packs of cigarettes and a lighter.

He returned the next morning to swap the speaker and also bought a sandwich from Subway, which was captured on CCTV.

Quarantine dodger Trent Reeve outside court after being released from custody.

Reeve pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with a lawful requirement or direction of an emergency management worker.

The Hobart Magistrates’ Court was told Reeve grew up in Hobart but had been working in Queensland.

His lawyer told the court Reeve’s partner had died in mid-June, which had a significant impact on his mental health.

Reeve came to Tasmania after getting a call from his brother to tell him their father had also died.

The court heard the breaches were not in malice and that quarantine rules were different in Queensland.

Outside court, Reeve said he was under a lot of stress at the time of the offences.

“I’m not against the law at all, it’s there for a reason, but it would have been nice to be treated with a bit of respect,’’ he said.

“I told them I wasn’t in a good headspace and they just locked you up and throw you in a room.”

‘No good reason’ to break lockdown rules

During a dispute with a father-and-son, Matthew Lee Pearce drove a vehicle into several other stationary vehicles, and a motorbike.

For this, he pleaded guilty to five counts of unlawfully injuring property, and one count of assault.

Not only was he sentenced for those offences, he was also in for a different type of punishment because of the timing.

Because the crimes were committed during a Covid-19 lockdown period — in April 2020 — he was also charged with failing to comply with a direction of the Director of Public Health.

As a judge noted, Pearce “did not have a good reason within the terms of the direction to leave his residence’.

For his crimes, Pearce was sentenced to a home detention order of six months, and a 36-month community corrections order which included 210 hours of community service.

‘None of those exceptions applied to you’

When police pulled over Judd Paul Kraemers in West Moonah on May 14 last year, they found a .22 calibre bolt action repeating rifle.

It was seized, examined and found to be in working order and capable of discharging a projectile.

After he was pulled over, an oral fluid test also returned a positive reading for drugs.

Kraemers was charged with possessing a prohibited firearm, and also failing to comply with the direction of the Director of Public Health.

“The facts in relation to that last matter are that you were away from your primary residence during a period in which a public health direction was in force that required you to be at your primary residence unless leaving for a specified essential purpose or with reasonable excuse. Neither of those exceptions applied to you,’’ sentencing judge, Justice Gregory Geason said.

When Kraemers appeared in court last month, he was also sentenced on drug trafficking matters from 2019.

Kraemers pleaded guilty to all charges, and was jailed for six months, with half of that sentence suspended.

Quarantine dodger sparks manhunt

Ulverstone man Alex Bezemer sparked a manhunt in northwest Tasmania in July last year after breaching home quarantine restrictions as a result of the Covid pandemic.

He re-entered Tasmania from Victoria that month and failed to comply with quarantine requirements by not being present at his place of residence during a police check.

Alleged quarantine dodger, Alex Bezemer.

Police were searching for him for many days.

He pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a lawful requirement or direction of an emergency management worker and was convicted.

MAJOR COVID-19 BREACH FINES

Man fined for breaching home quarantine

A Southern Tasmanian man has been fined $1,557 for breaching home quarantine after returning from NSW. 

The 65-year-old who arrived into the state on October 12 spent two days in hotel quarantine and was then transitioned into home quarantine after assessment from authorities. 

Although the man had returned a negative Covid-19 test, police were still required to conduct a compliance check and upon visiting found multiple tradesmen at his home undertaking non-emergency works.

He has since been escorted back to a government quarantine facility to complete the remainder of his isolation. No charges have been laid. 

False transport worker claim

A Victorian man was fined $3114 by police for providing false and misleading information to gain entry to Tasmania as an essential freight and logistics worker.

He entered Tasmania on August 22, with police saying he claimed to be a transport, freight and logistics worker and knowingly provided altered evidential documentation to enter Tasmania as an essential traveller.

Acting on information provided by the community, police investigated and fined him for the offences of knowingly providing false details to an emergency management worker and failing to comply with the direction of an emergency management worker.

The man’s risk of exposure from Covid was assessed as being low, but he was placed into quarantine.

No charges were laid.

Travelled without permission

A 48-year-old from Victoria was fined $778.50 after arriving in Tasmania on August 7 this year on the Spirit of Tasmania without authorisation from the Deputy State Controller.

He was placed into hotel quarantine but departed Tasmania that same night on the ferry.

No charges were laid.

Flouting stay at home orders

Early last month, two people were hit with infringement notices for not staying at home as directed.

Both were fined $778.50.

A 39-year-old woman from northern Tasmania who had returned from Queensland breached the order by attending a family gathering.

Information was reported to police who investigated and then issued the fine.

In a separate matter, a 52-year-old Launceston woman who had also recently returned from Queensland was fined after police received information she had attended a shopping complex without wearing a mask.

Neither had been in a high-risk premises while in Queensland, but were subject to stay at home requirements as part of Tasmania’s response to manage the risk of Covid.

No charges were laid.

False travel declarations

Tasmanian travellers were pinged after it was discovered they had not directly transited through high-risk Covid areas as declared on their travel pass.

A 34-year-old from Ulverstone was last month fined $778.50 after police found he had spent time in Victoria and had not directly transited through a level 2 high-risk areas as had been declared.

He arrived by plane into Devonport on August 6, and was directed to home quarantine.

Meanwhile, two women from the state’s East Coast, aged 71 and 52, were fined a combined $1,557 after declaring they had transited directly through NSW and had not spent time in a level 1 high-risk area.

They arrived on the Spirit of Tasmania on August 11 and were placed in hotel quarantine for 14 days.

No charges were laid.

Hotel quarantine breach

A woman who travelled from Victoria breached government hotel quarantine with her

young child in February this year, and was fined $774.

The breach occurred at 6.20pm from the Ibis Hotel in Hobart and they were

returned to quarantine by police just over an hour later.

They had travelled in a taxi during the time that they were out of quarantine, prompting Public Health contact tracers to have to work to establish any other movements and contacts.

No charges were laid.

Didn’t want to wear a mask

He held it in his hand and was given several instructions to wear it, but ultimately the Victorian man’s refusal cost him $774.

The 51-year-old entered the Burnie Airport terminal on February 8 this year as police were conducting Covid compliance duties.

They asked him to put the face covering on, but he repeatedly failed to do so.

The direction requiring the mandatory wearing of masks at all Tasmanian airports and on flights to and from Tasmania was enacted on January 22.

No charges were laid.

More anti-maskers

On January 30 this year, a 49 year old man from Melbourne was issued with an

infringement notice for entering the Hobart Airport terminal on two separate occasions

while not wearing a face mask.

He had been instructed to do so by Biosecurity and

Tasmania Police Officers, and was fined a total of $1548.

On February 1, a 25 year old man from NSW arrived in Tasmania and refused to wear a mask when directed to do so by a police officer, stating he had an exemption on medical grounds.

But he was unable to provide evidence of that, and was fined $774.

No charges were laid.