Fine for two quarantine breaches

A Myalup woman who breached quarantine orders in August felt scared and alone, having recently been the victim of domestic violence offences, and left to seek comfort from a “mother figure” in Bunbury, Bunbury Magistrate’s Court was told yesterday. Shae Ann Zink, 33, was given a spent conviction and fined $5000, plus costs, for breaching quarantine on the nights of August 17 and 18. Ms Zink was ordered to quarantine on August 7 having arrived in Perth from the Northern Territory where she was visiting her 11-year-old daughter. Defence lawyer Derek Hunter said that during the course of Ms Zink’s two week stay in Darwin, she was physically assaulted twice. Having returned to complete her quarantine at her home in Pamelup Estate, on August 17 she heard noises which Mr Hunter described as “unnatural for the area”. Feeling frightened, Ms Zink then called a taxi to visit a friend in Bunbury, where she stayed the night. Police arrived at the Myalup residence for a routine check to find Ms Zink was not at her home and attempts to contact her by phone were unsuccessful. She returned to Myalup on August 18, but went back to Bunbury the same day, at which point her car was detected by a police camera travelling southbound on Forrest Highway. When she was located on August 20, she was taken to the Intercontinental Hotel in Perth where she completed her quarantine. Magistrate Elaine Campione said Ms Zink’s character references, no prior convictions and remorse all acted as mitigating factors in sentencing, however she considered the fact that neither her friend or the taxi driver where aware of her quarantine order. “This is not an instance of attempting to avoid quarantine or hiding,” Ms Campione said. A pre-sentencing psychological report found she had been diagnosed with depression and that she suffered from high-level anxiety triggered by emotional distress.