A "reckless" and "selfish" Tasmanian man who toured around Western Australia in a "blatant" breach of the state's tough COVID laws will spend another month behind bars after being given a partially suspended six-month jail term.
Kyle Rix Stephens, 32, was arrested about 1,000 kilometres north of Perth despite being told two days earlier, when he arrived at Perth airport, that he did not have permission to enter the state.
Stephens had travelled from Tasmania on July 1, on a flight that transited through Sydney which was a COVID hotspot.
His application to enter WA was refused and he was directed to stay at a Belmont hotel until he could fly back to the eastern states.
The next day he received a telephone call and a text message from police reminding him of the direction to leave WA but he ignored it and left the accommodation.
He and another man then spent the next four days driving around the state, visiting the Margaret River area in the South West and the Wheatbelt town of Badgingarra, where he spent time at the local tavern before heading north.
The two men were arrested on July 5 at Nanutarra on the North West Coastal Highway, in WA's Pilbara region.
He was tested for COVID and returned a negative result.
Lawyer argues element of 'desperation'
Stephens has been in custody ever since the arrest and today appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court via video link from Roebourne Regional Prison.
His lawyer Andrew Wadham said there was an element of "desperation" in his client's actions because he had come to WA to look for work because there were no opportunities for him in Tasmania
Mr Wadham said he had hoped to stay for about six months, save some money and then return to his partner and two-year-old daughter who were still in Tasmania.
The court was told Stephens had mental health problems and a low level of education, which Mr Wadham submitted impeded his ability to understand the seriousness of the direction he was given and the risks posed by his actions.
Stephens's actions 'reckless' and 'selfish'
Magistrate Thomas Hall described Stephens's offending as a "blatant" failure to comply with the directions he had been given, saying he had potentially exposed many, many people to the risk of contracting coronavirus.
"On one level it is just reckless and on another level, just selfish," he said.
Magistrate Hall noted Australia was in "the grip of a third wave" of "the deadly pandemic" saying the Delta variant of the virus was running "rampant" and five people had died in New South Wales.
He said at least three states were now in lockdown which caused massive problems for the whole community because people cannot work, and children cannot go to school.
"WA has very strict quarantine and border entry rules and when people disobey the rules it runs the risk of COVID becoming rampant in the community and the effect can be catastrophic," he said.
Magistrate Hall accepted Stephens had mental health problems and educational issues but said there was no sign that he had not understood the direction he was given.
He said there needed to be a strong message sent to the community that such offences are serious and have potentially deadly consequences.
He took into account Stephens's early guilty pleas in deciding that he should receive a jail term of six months and one day, although five months of the term was suspended.
The sentence was to take effect from today meaning Stephens will spend about another month in custody.
Stephens was also ordered to pay court costs of $134.50.
