Tim Gunn sentenced to short stint in jail for FVO, public health breaches

The man whose illegal entry into Tasmania caused a three-day lockdown will spend a stint in jail for several offences. SEE SENTENCE >>

The man whose illegal entry into Tasmania caused a three-day lockdown will spend a stint in jail for several offences.

Timothy Andrew Gunn appeared before Acting Magistrate Sam Mollard in Hobart on Tuesday.

The Albury man made headlines when he lied about travelling from the then high risk NSW area during the pandemic before escaping from hotel quarantine while he was unknowingly Covid-positive.

*Tim Gunn man is transferred to the Fountainside Accomodation in Hobart. Picture Eddie Safarik

The 31-year-old previously pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly providing false or misleading information, two counts of failing to comply with a lawful requirement or direction of an emergency management worker, two counts of making a false or misleading statement and one count of possessing a thing used for administration of a controlled drug.

He pleaded guilty to a further 17 counts of breaching a national domestic violence order.

The order had been established in NSW following a family violence order matter which saw him spend time in jail from May to September this year.

Mr Mollard said Gunn had tried to obtain a G2G Pass to enter Tasmania twice, but both attempts were rejected, even though he submitted some false answers.

“It can be seen the defendant planned and persisted despite the two rejections,” Mr Mollard said.

Tim Gunn taken from his Facebook page.

On October 8 he booked a rail journey to Queensland and airline tickets, later applying for a Tas e-Travel Pass in which he claimed he had only been in Queensland for the past fortnight.

Once in Tasmania, he told security staff he had only been in Queensland, before admitting he had also come from NSW.

Gunn committed two streams of offences which were intrinsically linked – one for his breaches of Covid border and quarantine rules, and one for his breaches of his violence order.

Mr Mollard said Gunn was planning to enter Tasmania for the purpose of being with a woman who the family violence order was made to protect.

Mr Mollard said Gunn told his “babe” on the phone that he wouldn’t be stuck in quarantine for long and asked her to meet him at the TraveLodge Hotel, Hobart.

She picked him up after he snuck from the hotel and took him to Bridgewater where he was later caught by police.

Tim Gunn taken from his Facebook page.

Two ice pipes were seized and he tested positive to coronavirus at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Mr Mollard said previous correction orders had not been effective on Gunn.

“All the breaches play a part in a small but cumulative way in undermining the protection of the (family violence order) victim,” he said.

“I think imprisonment is the appropriate sentence to be imposed.”

Mr Mollard sentenced Gunn to ten months jail.

He suspended four months of this sentence, meaning Gunn would be required to spend six months behind bars backdated to October 26, 2021.

Gunn was fined $1500 under the Health act.

His ice pipes were forfeited by the state.