A Canberra teenager has been slapped with criminal convictions after leaving isolation and engaging in "extremely dangerous" behaviour, which included attending a Halloween party and kissing a friend on the lips while infected with COVID-19.
Ashley Carter-Gair, 19, was sentenced to two good behaviour orders on Tuesday after pleading guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to charges of failing to comply with a public health direction and failing to take reasonable precautions against transmitting COVID-19.
Court documents show the Gordon woman, who was 18 at the time, tested positive for the coronavirus on October 19 last year.
As a result, ACT Health directed her to isolate until at least November 3.
Carter-Gair decided to instead display what special magistrate Jane Campbell described as "blatant disregard" for the law by attending a house party in Higgins on October 30.
Later that night, the teenager was photographed kissing another woman in Civic.
She subsequently posted pictures, including that one, on Snapchat and Instagram.
An anonymous tipster contacted police and provided screenshots of Carter-Gair's Snapchat story, telling officers they had scrapped plans to attend the Halloween party because they had become aware the teenager was planning to be there.
Police went to Carter-Gair's home on October 31 but she was nowhere to be found, so officers sent her a text message telling her they were aware of allegations she was contravening isolation requirements.
After an officer received a notification that Carter-Gair had read the message, the pictures on the teenager's Instagram account disappeared.
Police returned to her home the next day to arrest Carter-Gair, who slammed the front door in an officer's face and locked it before eventually surrendering.
As she was being escorted to a police car, she told officers she believed her COVID-19 test must have been a false positive because her boyfriend had returned negative results.
Defence lawyer Taden Kelliher applied for Carter-Gair to receive non-conviction orders on Tuesday, telling the court the woman had experienced "confusion" about isolation requirements.
He also highlighted Carter-Gair's challenging personal circumstances, which included the teenager having acted for years as a carer for her blind mother.
Mr Kelliher said the 19-year-old was planning to play rugby league professionally, but her career had been set back after she suffered a serious injury and fell victim to an assault.
Prosecutor Tianni Barr argued against non-conviction orders, saying Carter-Gair's actions had carried with them "a real risk of transmission".
Ms Barr said the social media posts also included pictures of the teenager kissing a friend's stomach and standing in close proximity to other people without a mask on.
She added that the ACT had been transitioning out of a nine-week lockdown at the time of the offending, when public health restrictions were more strict than they are now.
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Ms Campbell ultimately agreed with the prosecutor that non-conviction orders would be inappropriate, rejecting claims Carter-Gair might have been confused about isolation requirements.
The magistrate said Carter-Gair had endangered the safety of both her friends and the wider community through her "extremely dangerous" decision to "go out and party".
She also noted that the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 had been circulating in the ACT at the relevant time.
"As we all know, COVID is something that has the capacity, or the ability, to be fatal for some people," Ms Campbell said.
Carter-Gair faced fines of up $9600, but did not receive any monetary penalty because she lacked the capacity to pay.
Ms Campbell instead dealt with the teenager by imposing criminal convictions and two good behaviour orders, the longest of which will run for six months.
