A mother who claims to be "a sovereign state" has been fined $450 after repeatedly refusing to use the Check In CBR app and telling police her name was "Living Woman".
Elvira Shagabuddinova, 39, did not bother to turn up for her hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday, when she was convicted in her absence of failing to comply with a health direction, trespassing and failing to provide her name to police.
The charges stemmed from an August 2021 incident at a St Vincent de Paul Society shop in Greenway, where Shagabuddinova refused staff members' many requests to check in.
Giving evidence on Thursday, a store supervisor told the court Shagabuddinova, who also uses the surname Useinova, had "barged" past a staff member at the door.
The 39-year-old, who was accompanied by her three young children, then spoke about "government control" and held out some documents she urged the supervisor to read.
When directed to leave because of her failure to check in, Shagabuddinova told the store supervisor to call the police.
Constable Michael Keck, an ACT Policing COVID compliance team officer, attended the scene and gave evidence on Thursday about his futile efforts to converse with the woman.
The court viewed footage from his bodyworn camera, which showed Shagabuddinova claiming she was "not under the criminal law" and refusing to state her name.
"The female asked to be referred to as 'Living Woman'," Constable Keck said.
Constable Keck and another police officer repeatedly told the woman to leave because her failure to follow the supervisor's direction meant she was trespassing.
They urged her to consider her children, and the second officer told her at one stage that she would already be in handcuffs if not for the fact she was holding one of the kids.
Shagabuddinova stood defiantly in the store for a while, however, with the youngest of the children crying under her right arm, as she declared: "We gonna stay here."
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After trespassing for some time, she walked outside with police.
Her continual refusal to provide her name meant she was arrested and subsequently interviewed by police over the course of an hour, during which time prosecutor Juanita Zankin said she had made admissions to the offences with which she was charged.
The court heard Shagabuddinova spent six days in custody following her arrest.
Part of that time was used to conduct a mental health assessment that ultimately found she had no illness or disorder.
Magistrate James Lawton, who said he was satisfied Shagabuddinova had waived her right to appear at Thursday's hearing, found the 39-year-old guilty of three charges.
He fined her $250 for refusing to provide her name to police, and $100 each for trespassing and failing to check in to the store in accordance with health directions.
Shagabuddinova, who had no previous criminal history, was given six months to pay.
