CLUSTER TRIO ‘LIED’
THE three women accused of sparking a dangerous coronavirus cluster lied on the Queensland border pass documents, police will allege.
Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, Haja Uma Timbo, 21, and Diana Lasu, 21, are each charged with one count of fraud and one of producing false or misleading documents.
THE three women accused of sparking a dangerous coronavirus cluster lied on the Queensland border pass documents they gave to emergency officers at the Brisbane Airport, police will allege.
The women, Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, Haja Uma Timbo, 21, and Diana Lasu, 21, are each charged with one count of fraud and one of producing false or misleading documents.
The trio faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court for the first time on Monday where they each had their case adjourned to next month.
According to court documents, when the women flew into Brisbane Airport about 8pm on July 21, they each gave an emergency officer a Queensland border document “knowing the said document contained information that was false… namely the information (they) provided was true and correct and that (they) had not been in a COVID-19 hotspot in the last 14 days”.
The women are also charged with fraud by dishonestly gaining the benefit of avoiding the mandatory 14day self-quarantine.
Twenty-year-old Heritage Park woman Olivia Muranga, who was born in Tanzania, and 21-year-old Acacia Ridge woman Diana Lasu who was born in Sudan, each had their matters adjourned to October 28 to allow their lawyers time to case conference with prosecutors.
Algester woman Haja Timbo, who was born in Sierra Leone, had her case adjourned to October 21 after her lawyer asked for a threeweek adjournment to allow time to make submissions to prosecutors.
The three accused were each represented by separate lawyers and did not appear to interact with one another in court. All three arrived and left court separately and did not comment to media.
The women faced a maximum penalty of a $13,345 fine if convicted of providing false or misleading documents under the Health Act while the maximum penalty for the fraud charge is five years’ imprisonment.
It’s alleged the trio travelled to Melbourne in July where they hosted an Airbnb party in a Melbourne CBD apartment despite the city being in hard lockdown.
Two days later they allegedly lied to get back into Queensland after flying through Sydney meaning they were not forced to isolate after allegedly falsely declaring they had not been in COVID hotspot Melbourne.
It’s understood Muranga and Lasu were infected with COVID-19 and moved freely around southeast Queensland for eight days before they were detected by authorities and placed under police guard in hospital.
The women’s re-entry into Queensland came just two days after they were busted hosting a loud and drunken party at a short-term rental in Melbourne’s CBD. The virus-riddled city was in hard lockdown when they were found with a group of up to 30 people at the city apartment.