Five people will face court today charged with breaches of COVID-19 rules in South Australia, including a man who was allegedly pursued through a border checkpoint and then assaulted two people.
Key points:
- A 30-year-old man allegedly drove through a checkpoint and then went on a crime spree
- Two people from Victoria were charged after a minor road crash
- Another two were accused of breaching directions at Adelaide Airport
Police arrested the 30-year-old yesterday after he allegedly drove through a checkpoint on the Wentworth-to-Renmark road, connecting New South Wales with SA’s Riverland, just before 2:30pm.
The pursuit was called off but police later spotted the car outside a house on Government Road at Renmark, and said the driver entered a shed and tried to steal a car.
He then allegedly entered a neighbouring house and assaulted two residents, stole a set of car keys, smashed the car window, then ran to the garage and tried to steal a motorbike.
The man, of no fixed address, was charged with offences including failing to comply with the Emergency Management Act, failing to stop, driving dangerous to escape police, aggravated serious criminal trespass, property damage and giving a false name.
He was also charged with two counts of assault, including of a woman who received an arm injury.
The man will appear in Berri Magistrates Court today.
The previous evening, police detected another pair alleged to have breached border restrictions, after officers were called to a minor truck crash at Pasadena, in Adelaide’s south.
Police allege the driver and passenger — a 26-year-old man and 27-year-old woman from Victoria — had both travelled from the eastern state without completing a cross-border travel application.
They were charged with failing to comply with an emergency management direction.
The remaining two people were charged with breaching emergency management rules over separate incidents at Adelaide Airport.
Police said that, about 11:00am on Friday, a 49-year-old Northern Territory man arrived on a flight from Melbourne, failed to comply with directions and gave false information to staff.
He was arrested at a hotel in Adelaide’s CBD.
A 35-year-old man from Queensland was charged with offences including hindering police and disorderly behaviour after arriving on a flight from his home state on Saturday evening.
The Victorian pair, and the men from Queensland and the Northern Territory, will all appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today.
The incidents come after another two alleged breaches late last week, including a man who left a medi-hotel for eight hours.
“I was quite incredulous because he must have used a fair amount of initiative to do that, because I know what our security’s like,” Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Professor Spurrier said that, despite the incidents, border controls had been highly effective.
“There’ll be a few people who try and get around the edges for whatever reason,” she said.
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