Mt Barker COVID-19 quarantine breaches labelled ‘example of extreme selfishness’

A 50-year-old woman who repeatedly breached WA’s COVID-19 quarantine laws after arriving from Sydney has been slammed by an Albany magistrate for her “flagrant disregard for the law”. Iona Lara Mamaku did not appear in Albany Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, when she was fined $5000 for failing to comply with a direction. Police prosecutor Sgt Dave Loverock told the court Mamaku arrived in WA from Sydney on June 27 and was ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days at a residence in Mt Barker until July 11. The court was told Mamaku had secured a G2G pass to travel from Sydney to WA. But when police conducted a routine check of the residence on the second day of her quarantine, Mamaku was not there. Mamaku was found after driving to town and picking up a prescription from a local chemist, Sgt Loverock said. On the final day of her home quarantine period, on July 10, Mamaku drove another resident of the house to the Mt Barker Country Chemist on Lowood Street. Sgt Loverock said that after being stopped by police, Mamaku told police she thought her quarantine period had ended. She was directed to have a COVID-19 test and quarantine until she had received a negative result. Mamaku was also fined $100 for having no authority to drive. Magistrate Dianne Scaddan said Mamaku’s actions were “directly putting at risk others in the community”. “This is another example of extreme selfishness,” she said.