Any Sympathy for This ‘Illegal’ Stowaway? Australian Woman Hides in Truck to Cross Provincial Lines. Is Made an Example Of

They were demanding an unemployed woman gives them $2500 of her money and 2 weeks of her time for the crime of having visited an unwell sister across made-up lines

A Perth woman who hid in a Victorian truck to sneak into Western Australia without quarantining has been jailed for six months, the toughest penalty handed down for the charge since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Asher Van Der Sanden, 28, was sentenced in Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday for her “deceitful and dishonest” conduct after hiding in a car within a truck to pass through the border at Eucla on August 3 or 4.

She was found at her partner’s Scarborough home on August 11, after failing to arrive at Perth Airport on a flight from Melbourne, as expected.

Magistrate Andrew Matthews described the offence as very serious.

“The fact you’ve come from Victoria is specifically concerning given that’s really the hotspot [“hotspot”] for COVID-19 in Australia and your actions really undo what this government in WA has done to prevent the community spread of this hideous virus,” he said.

The court heard Van Der Sanden, who is unemployed, had been in Victoria for one month visiting her unwell sister when she was granted an exemption to return to WA. The exemption required her to complete 14 days hotel quarantine on arrival at her own expense ($2500).

She instead asked a truck driver at a Mildura roadhouse in regional Victoria for a lift to Perth around July 31. That same day Victoria recorded 557 new coronavirus cases.

Her boyfriend Shaun Pilmer faced court on Tuesday accused of the same charge as Van Der Sanden. He was granted bail to reappear in court on September 22.

In early July, the WA government tightened its requirements for people entering the state from Victoria in response to Melbourne’s second wave of COVID-19 infections.

The new rules required those entering from Victoria to complete 14 days hotel quarantine at their own expense [$2500 for an unemployed woman], rather than 14 days self-isolation at their home, as is required for arrivals from other states.

Outside court, Van Der Sanden’s lawyer John Hammond said the sentence would send a strong message to the community.

Van Der Sanden will be eligible for parole after serving three months at Bandyup Women’s Prison.

At least five people have been sentenced in WA for failing to comply with the Emergency Management Act direction.

Jonathon David, 35, from Victoria was ordered to serve an immediate prison term of one month after he repeatedly breached hotel quarantine to buy food and visit his girlfriend in Armadale in April.

Douglas Nothdurft, 33, from Queensland was jailed for an immediate term of four weeks after walking out of his hotel quarantine and going on an alcohol and meth binge in Perth’s CBD for “a few days” during the same month.

Two women who flew in from Adelaide and escaped hotel quarantine that same night received a suspended prison term and $5000 fine respectively, while a Northam farmer was also fined for failing to self-isolate.

Source: Wa Today

13 Comments
  1. Micheal Bleys says

    Your heading is wrong , not her $2500 , unemployed – welfare money .

  2. Aurum Cimex says

    Headline should read- Fascists unlawfully kidnap and imprison woman.

    1. itchyvet says

      Another poster who has no idea of the realities facing us.

    2. Le Ruse says

      Look Aurum.. I live in Aus for the last 53 years or so. I remember then , you could bought a firearm in Aus Disposal stores, you only needed money & the cops then were armed only with a baton.. Today we are totally disarmed & the cops are armed like the Sturm Abteilung & do behave like it.. I did ask then, if I can do (whatever) the answer always was, go ahead it’s a Free Country …That was then ! Today even Kim Jong Un is eating his heart out how our “concerned” “caring” democratically elected leaders have done to our liberties …

      1. itchyvet says

        You may be right in what you say, Le Ruse, but funny thing is, those Australians who folks are claiming are being hard done by, all stood by silently, and even voted for the S.O.B.’s who they placed into power who introduced these laws in the first place. WORSE, once the found out what their favorite M.P.’s had done, they voted them BACK IN AGAIN at the next election. So those “democraticlly elected leaders” your crying on about, were placed into power by the idiots constantly voting for them. So who is really to blame for these events ? L.O.L. You get the Government you deserve. It’s very clear, Australian populace DESERVE the Government they have, afterall, they voted for them continuously.

        1. Le Ruse says

          Humm.. Actually the old Aussie my age, hardly anyone voted for them ..
          There are the educated by the post- 68 generation which brainwashed the generation, aged forty & below ! Which they are a substantial majority ..
          e.g. The POS which we have today in charge of Victoria , at his previous term had cancelled a signed contract (Est-West link) & we had to pay a penalty of over a billion AU$ for the cancellation of the project .. & guess what ?? At the next election he got returned with a bigger majority, so I’m asking myself, what do they put in the water ?? BTW his bigger gains were not in working class electorates, but in the akademic middle class electorates !

          1. itchyvet says

            Quote, “At the next election he got returned with a bigger majority, ” Unquote.
            I rest my case.

            1. Le Ruse says

              Yupp.. If you don’t vote Dan Jong Un, you’re a Fascist Nazi !

    3. kjf5 says

      Communists, not fascists. This is the USSR on steroids. The last men to die for freedom wore gray, had GOTT MIT UNS engraved on their belt buckles and marched east.

    4. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

      It would be way beyond redundant.

  3. cechas vodobenikov says

    anglophone hatred of freedom/justice

    1. itchyvet says

      Where do you, who live on the other side of the World, get up and make such a statement about our state of which you have no knowledge of whatsoever, other than the propaganda you are fed by the MSM ??

  4. itchyvet says

    Unlike the majority of posters on here, I actually live in PERTH, Western Australia, therefore I believe, I can make a statement relevant to the real issue here. This woman thumbed her nose up at every West Australian, couldn’t give a stuff, what she brought into our state,(it’s all about her apparently, no one else matters) which incidentaly, does not have any virus infections, and we are free to do as we wish thought our whole state. Workers can work, people can walk/excercise wherever/whenever they wish. The only thing they are being asked to do is maintain social distancing and respect the border closure. On arrival, go into quarantine for two weeks, to ensure they are clean and not spread the virus if they are not. B.T.W. 95% of the people of this state, support our Government in what it’s done to protect us all. If you don’t like it, fine, don’t come here. How easy is that to understand ???

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