A man from New South Wales who flew into Tasmania illegally and then absconded from hotel quarantine will have to serve his full jail term after his appeal against his sentence was dismissed.
Tim Gunn was sentenced to a total of ten months in jail with four suspended after he pleaded guilty to breaching family violence orders, escaping hotel quarantine and lying to emergency management workers and contact tracers in October last year.
Flight leads to lockdown
The 31-year-old was taken to Hobart's Travelodge hotel after he was found to have entered the state without approval but fled from the hotel a few hours later.
A COVID-19 test then returned a positive reading, prompting a widespread search.
Police found the New South Welshman at his partner's home in Bridgewater the next day.
He was not forthcoming about his movements and public health authorities instigated a three-day lockdown across Tasmania's south.
Gunn received a five month jail term, with two months suspended, for breaching public health orders.
He was given another five months for family violence order breaches, again with two months suspended.
Actions showed 'consistent disregard for the law'
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Estcourt said that, while Gunn's penalty for breaching domestic violence orders "might be described as heavy", it was not unreasonable nor plainly unjust.
"I have no charter to 'tinker' with the sentence imposed," Justice Estcourt said.
The judge described Magistrate Sam Mollard's penalty for the public health breaches as "well within the wide discretion" given to him, finding that Gunn demonstrated a "complete, repeated and consistent disregard for the law".
"Taking into account all that could be said in mitigation on behalf of the applicant, including his pleas of guilty and expressed remorse and the invidious situation he found himself in without support from family and friends, I nonetheless am of the view that the total of the sentences imposed was fairly reflective of the totality of his criminal conduct," Justice Estcourt said.
