Police found partygoers hiding in house kitchen

BREACH OF COVID RULES LANDS HOST WITH £319 BILL

PARTYGOERS were found huddled in a group in a kitchen with two more hiding under a table with the lights off after police received an anonymous 999 call about a party in a Tier Two area.

Officers arrived at 3.30am on October 25 last year, at Andzelka Gorniak’s address in Mount Pleasant, Mansfield, amid reports of a party in the house, breaching Covid guidelines.

Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard a group of people were huddled in the kitchen, the lights were turned off and people were seen trying to hide behind items in the kitchen as police arrived.

Emma Wakefield, prosecuting, said two males were beneath the kitchen table.

Six people were present at the property including the defendant.

Officers were told by those present that “it was just a birthday party” and quizzed the officers about if they believed in Covid or not.

Gorniak, who works in a shop part-time, was issued with a fixed penalty notice and reminder letters were sent to her but in an incorrect name.

Her name appeared to have been spelt wrongly at the time when the fixed penalty notice was filled out.

She was notified that the 28-day time limit for payment of the fixed penalty notice had passed.

She had not paid the fine because she did not open letters sent to her address because they were in a different name.

But after the name mix-up was sorted out in court, she pleaded guilty to participating in a gathering of two or more persons which took place indoors in a Tier Two area.

The charge read out to here stated that on October 25, 2020, at Mount Pleasant, Mansfield, without reasonable excuse and other than as permitted by the Regulations, participated in a gathering, which was indoors and consisted of two or more people, in the Tier Two area of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Magistrates fined her £200 - which was the amount in the original fixed penalty notice - and ordered she pay court costs and a victim surcharge. The total amount she has to pay within 28 days is £319. One magistrates told her “you can’t ignore mail that goes to you that has a name similar to yours, I think you have buried your head in the sand.”

As she left court, he added: “That’s it for today. No more parties.”

I think you have buried your head in the sand. That’s it for today. No more parties

Magistrate