Community work for breaching lockdown
She told police the lockdown was ‘‘a joke’’ after a car accident while on her way to go four-wheeldriving with friends.
Jessie Allison Dredge, 20, was charged with obstructing a medical officer of health and sentenced to 80 hours’ community work when she appeared in the Nelson District Court on Monday.
On April 27, Dredge and two friends were travelling on Gladstone Rd, Richmond, when they collided with another vehicle they were in convoy with.
It was the third time Dredge had been stopped by police for breaching the lockdown rules.
She admitted the offending to police and said they were travelling to the river to go four-wheel driving. In explanation for the continued breaches Dredge said, ‘‘my friends and I think the lockdown is a joke’’.
Police said it was not known whether or not the defendant was carrying or had the Covid-19 virus but she was not displaying symptoms.
The court heard Dredge had earlier been warned twice. On April 9, she was in Anzac Park in Nelson with a group of friends when police stopped to offer advice around spreading Covid-19 and the need to self-isolate.
Then on April 15, police were called to Dredge’s house as her car tyres had been punctured. She suspected a disgruntled neighbour damaged her vehicle,
‘‘The rules are pretty simple, I’m not sure what is so special about you that you think you can ignore the rules.’’
Judge Tony Zohrab
frustrated by her ignoring the level 4 lockdown by constantly coming and going with friends.
Two days later, Dredge was with friends at the Bishopdale Reserve when police issued her with a written warning.
Duty lawyer Ian Miller said Dredge no longer felt the lockdown was a joke because she had been on a ‘‘reasonably significant curfew’’ between the hours of 2pm and 10am for the week since she was charged.
On one of the occasions when she was warned, she had been going to the supermarket but accepted she received a formal written warning and breached that without good excuse.
Dredge had no previous convictions and in light of that, Miller asked Judge Tony Zohrab to consider a fine.
‘‘I’m not prepared to consider a fine. The rules are pretty simple, I’m not sure what is so special about you that you think you can ignore the rules.’’