A VOLUNTEER has been jailed for two months after he took public transport from his Sydney home to Tenterfield, where he planned travel 50km across the border on foot to help a charity with bushfire relief.
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Trong Duc Nguyen, 31, was sentenced in Armidale Local Court for leaving the metropolitan Sydney area for the regional NSW towns of Armidale and Tenterfield between Friday and Sunday.
He pleaded guilty to a single charge, which relates to the COVID-19 public health order.
The Leader can reveal court documents show the man caught the train from Cabramatta to Newcastle on Friday afternoon, before dining at fast food restaurants, sleeping at the station, and boarding a train to Armidale.
The 31-year-old then caught a bus to Tenterfield and slept in a service station toilet on Saturday night before he bussed back to Armidale on Sunday in search of a sleeping bag.
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Police facts show Nguyen then walked through the town, bought food from Woolworths twice and popped into BCF to buy a sleeping bag.
Officers were alerted to Nguyen's movements and zeroed in on him at the Armidale train station, trying to get a bus back to Tenterfield on Sunday.
The offender could not provide a reasonable excuse for leaving Sydney amid COVID-19, and had come from a suburb under the harshest lockdown orders.
He told police he intended to walk the 50km from Tenterfield to Stanthorpe in Queensland.
Police facts show he said he was on his way to help charity Samaritan's Purse with bushfire relief work.
When asked by officers for proof, he produced a chain of unanswered emails from his account to the organisation.
Police said the man was not vaccinated and had not had a COVID-19 test in the days before travelling.
He was escorted off the bus and taken to Armidale Police Station, where he was charged and refused bail.
Police tried to find the man permanent accommodation, but it was declined.
Officers also feared he would not abide by stay-at-home orders, according to the court documents.
Rail and bus transport has been suspended between Sydney and Armidale, which police said would make it hard for the man to return to his home in the city.
Magistrate Roger Prowse accepted the guilty plea to the charge and sentenced Nguyen to a jail term from August 16 to October 15.
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Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
