A Northern Territory man who breached COVID-19 restrictions by flying to Adelaide from Melbourne has been given a suspended sentence.

Key points:

  • Bernard Shackcloth flew into Adelaide from Melbourne last Friday 
  • He was charged after he falsely told airport staff he had flown in from Alice Springs
  • He has been placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond

Bernard Shackcloth, 49, pleaded guilty to breaking the Emergency Management Act last Friday, when he falsely told police at Adelaide Airport he had come from Alice Springs.

Shackcloth told the Adelaide Magistrates Court that he was on medication that made him urgently need to go to the toilet and lied so he could skip the airport’s COVID-19 processing queue.

He said the bipolar medication he was currently on increased his cholesterol.

“I had All-Bran with skim milk for breakfast, so it’s good for cholesterol but when you got to go, you got to go,” he told the court.

“I was in dire straits.

Shackcloth told the court he had been in Bendigo, not Greater Melbourne and was fully vaccinated.

He left the airport after going to the toilet, but was picked up by police at a city hotel when they checked the flight manifests and found he had come from Melbourne.

Magistrate Christopher Smolicz said Shackcloth had put the community in danger.

“You had the opportunity to explain that you needed to go to the toilet,” he said.

Shackcloth was sentenced to 13 days’ jail, wholly suspended on a 12-month good behaviour bond.

Removalists revealed after crash

Three other people accused of illegally entering South Australia have also faced court in Adelaide.

Sebastian Villegas, 26, and Yarleys Romana, 27, were arrested after the light truck they were driving was involved in a minor traffic accident at a service station in the southern suburb of Pasadena.

The Adelaide Magistrates Court heard the pair had come from Melbourne as removalists, but did not have the proper permits to enter South Australia.

All four cases were heard before the Adelaide Magistrates Court.(

ABC News: Dean Faulkner

)

Ms Romana, a Colombian who does not speak English and needed a Spanish interpreter, asked to be given bail and to be sent back to Melbourne.

Her lawyer, duty solicitor Alexander Jackson, told the court her case was “a very unusual set of circumstances”, saying she was asked by Mr Villegas to help him with a removalist job, for which he claimed he had the correct permits.

“She was under the impression she was permitted to travel as a result of that essential work,” Mr Jackson said.

“She was surprised to have been arrested.”

Magistrate Christopher Smolicz refused Ms Romana’s request for bail because she did not have a South Australian address and it was unclear how she and Mr Villegas had gotten through border checkpoints.

Another man who flew into South Australia from Queensland told the court he had come because his mother had a heart attack and he had received “misinformation” from health authorities about whether he could enter the state.

Joshua James Flavell, 39, told the court he was distressed and affected by an inability to access his mental illness medication while in custody.

“I am unmedicated and have extreme PTSD which is clouding everything I do,” he told the court.

Mr Flavell’s case was adjourned while he sought legal advice.

Posted , updated