ABC Australia reports this great end of week story!
A woman who refused to check in at a Canberra store during the height of the 2021 COVID-19 outbreak has been fined $450.
Elvira Shagabuddinova was found guilty of trespass, failing to comply with public health directions and refusing to provide her name to police in the ACT Magistrates Court today.
The 39-year-old was arrested in August 2021 after she failed to check-in at a St Vincent de Paul store in Greenway, in Canberra’s south, as per the ACT government mandate.
She did not appear in court today, but had previously told the court she was exempt from public health orders as she was a “sovereign state”.
The court heard that after Shagabuddinova refused to check in using the CheckIn CBR app, store managers called the police, where she then failed to comply with police directions and refused to give her name.
CCTV footage played in court showed Shagabuddinova repeatedly saying she knew her rights, and telling police she was “a living woman”.
“Answer the question. Am I a living woman?,” she asked police when they requested her name.
“I’m not going to tell you anything about me, you can call me living woman, that’s it.”
She was referred for a mental health assessment and was found not to be suffering from any mental health issues.
Magistrate Lawton said he was satisfied that Shagabuddinova had committed all three offences and fined her accordingly.
