Fremantle Dockers assistant coach Josh Carr has been fined for breaching WA’s strict quarantine laws after a cleaning lady and a speech therapist turned up at his home.
Key points:
- Josh Carr was told to quarantine after the team returned from Queensland
- But he breached the rules by allowing visitors and leaving his house
- Carr pleaded guilty and received a $6,000 fine and spent conviction
Carr appeared in the Fremantle Magistrates Court this morning and pleaded guilty to three charges of failing to obey a direction.
The three offences were committed over four hours on July 28, three days after he arrived back in Perth from Queensland where the Fremantle Dockers had played an AFL game against Sydney.
Carr, a father of four, was meant to have self-quarantined for 14 days, although he was allowed to travel to locations associated with his duties at the Fremantle Club.
The court was told the first breach happened when a cleaning lady turned up his house.
His lawyer Seamus Rafferty said Carr went into the backyard to get out of her way, but then decided to leave the house which was the second breach.
AAP: David Mariuz
)Carr went to a laundrette and a coffee shop and stayed in the car at both locations, before going to his brother’s house because he knew nobody was home.
When Carr returned to his own house, a speech therapist arrived to treat his autistic son, and while Carr again went outside to avoid the person, their presence constituted the third quarantine breach.
Carr tried to avoid people but made ‘a series of poor decisions’
Mr Rafferty submitted that everything Carr did that day was to avoid people, but he had made “a series of poor decisions”.
Three references were presented to the court on Carr’s behalf, including one from Dockers football manager Peter Bell.
Magistrate Peter Malone said while the offences were serious, he was not contemplating a prison term for Carr.
He noted Carr had initially told “mistruths” to the police, but said he had immediately done “a mea culpa” and admitted what he had done.
Magistrate Malone took into account Carr’s early pleas of guilty and that he was “a person of good character” in deciding that a $6,000 fine was appropriate.
The former Port Adelaide and Fremantle player was also granted a spent conviction, meaning the offences will not be recorded against him.
Outside court, Carr said he was very remorseful for breaching the quarantine conditions that had been put in place for the team.
“It hasn’t happened before and it won’t happen again and I’m just looking forward to moving on now,” he said.
Source: AFL NEWS ABC
