A New South Wales man who breached South Australia’s medi-hotel system by escaping from hotel quarantine to get fast food and to go to a local pub will spend another week locked up.
Paul McElhinney, 33, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court for failing to comply with a COVID-19 process.
The Sydney resident was supposed to be quarantined at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Adelaide after returning from his father’s funeral in Scotland.
HOW HE DID IT
On August 12, McElhinney reportedly left the hotel through its emergency fire exit. After lying to the police officers that he had encountered, stating that he was not in quarantine, he was ushered away from the premises and visited a nearby McDonald’s restaurant along Hindley St and The Duke of York Hotel in Currie St.
McElhinney spent about eight hours in the community before returning to the hotel at about 6 am, on August 13, intoxicated which was when police became aware of the breach.
He said that the reason behind his actions was due to an “emotional response” to his father’s death.
HIS PENALTY
Magistrate John Fahey said his reckless decision to ignore the quarantine requirements could have jeopardized the precautions taken by authorities and the general public to keep the virus at bay.
“Fortunately, you were not contagious; we know now that you could not have infected anyone but that’s not the point,” he told McElhinney.
The magistrate said that he believes McElhinney is a good man, however, consequences for his actions were still necessary. This will also serve as a general deterrence for the wider community from doing the same thing.
“The community needs to know that there will be serious consequences for those who flout the emergency regulations,” Fahey said
McElhinney was convicted and sentenced to 14 days imprisonment, but Magistrate Fahey backdated it to last Wednesday, August 18; when he was first taken into custody.
He will be released in seven days.
McElhinney landed in Adelaide on August 3 on a Singapore repatriation flight. The court heard that the fully vaccinated man received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine while in his home country and had tested negative before he left both Scotland and Singapore.