Traveller who escaped hotel quarantine faces a $50,000 fine and a YEAR in jail and is put behind bars until new year for her 'blatant disregard' for others
A conspiracy theorist who broke out hotel quarantine claiming it was 'poisoning her with allergens' faces a year in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Jenny Maree D'Ubios, 49, was seven days into her 14-day quarantine when she left the Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth on Saturday morning.
Ms D'Ubios made social media threats to leave the hotel before doing so and even called police just after 10am on Boxing Day and threatened to leave.
The Pan Pacific is not a high-risk quarantine hotel and with no police guard to stop her, so Ms D'Ubios simply walked out with her face mask dangling uselessly under her chin.
Security camera footage captured Ms D'Ubios walking out from hotel quarantine
A Perth court heard Jenny Maree D'Ubios, 49, left hotel quarantine after suffering a breakdown
Ms D'Ubios faced Perth Magistrates Court on Sunday charged with failing to comply with a direction under the Emergency Management Act.
Defence lawyer Serene Teffaha told the court that Ms D'Ubios had left quarantine because it affected her ability to make rational decisions and she had had a breakdown, ABC News reported.
Ms Teffaha said Ms D'Ubios had returned from Spain to look after her daughter, who had tried to take her own life.
Magistrate Brian Gluestein said her behaviour showed 'blatant disregard' for the pandemic situation and that given her conduct, bail would be inappropriate.
'This is blatant disregard of the WA legislation and the pandemic situation generally in Australia and internationally,' he said.
Ms D'Ubios was refused bail and has been remanded in custody until January 4.
Jenny Maree D'Ubios, pictured, tested negative to coronavirus on Sunday
After leaving the hotel, Ms D'Ubios was spotted on Adelaide Terrace at 10.20am and a frantic alert was issued by WA police.
She then caught a bus towards Fremantle, went to the beach, and met a mother and daughter in Warnbro.
She then caught a taxi to Rockingham General Hospital where police took her into custody.
In a welcome relief for the authorities, she tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday, after she had previously refused testing on Day 2 of her mandatory quarantine.
Western Australia's Health Minister and Acting Premier Roger Cook said on Sunday that he would review the state's decision not to move Ms D'Ubios to a high-risk hotel.
'This is the first time that we have had an incident like this with an international traveller,' he.
'We have been very successful in containing Covid-19 to hotels, preventing it from breaking out in the community.
'The next issue is how she managed to leave the hotel.
'The result of this is the woman is now in police custody and faces a substantial fine of up to $50,000 and up to 12 months imprisonment. The consequences of her actions are significant.
'I am disappointed and I'm angry. I'm particularly angry at the traveller who, by her actions, potentially put many people at risk.'
Doctors have slammed Western Australia's hotel quarantine system as 'voluntary' after Ms D'Ubios's escape.
Jenny Maree D'Ubios has been remanded in custody until January 4
Australian Medical Association WA president Dr Andrew Miller said the hotel quarantine system needed to be more 'humane', with fresh air available in order to prevent people from trying to flee.
He also wants a 'transparent and open' explanation of how the state's quarantine system is working following the incident.
'The quarantine seems to be a bit of a voluntary thing just now and the hospitals are overloaded,' Dr Miller told reporters on Sunday.
'We know there are going to be uncooperative people, we know mistakes are going to be made, but in my job we have to have systems in place that make up for that, otherwise people die.
'Now unfortunately that's also the case with hotel quarantine... so there's lots of work to be done because Covid is not taking the Christmas/New Year period off.'
Ms D'Ubios, who goes by the name Jennifer Gonzalez on social media, posted a video on social media at 6:54am on Saturday, saying she would leave the quarantine hotel.
In a series of videos believed to have been posted by Ms D'Ubios while in quarantine, she claimed coronavirus was fake
In the video she complained that she was forced to take antihistamines there because she was allergic to dust, wheat, dairy and sulfates.
She said the antihistamines gave her a rapid heart rate, low blood pressure and dehydration.
'I woke up this morning and I can't breathe again because I'm stuck in this f**king room,' Ms D'Ubios said in the video.
On Facebook she said she wanted a 'non-toxic safe place to quarantine', while also making several conspiracy theory claims.
'That's all I am asking for so they don't pump me with antihistamines or allergy drugs to cope with the toxic environment,' she wrote.
The Australian citizen had returned to Perth from living in Spain - which as of Sunday night had 1.87 million cases and almost 50,000 deaths according to statistics website Worldometers.
She has said she does not believe the coronavirus pandemic exists, yet in a strange contradiction has also claimed that it is the result of 5G technology.
'The is going to use an army to mass vaccinate you for a 0.03 per cent contraction rate for a virus that doesn't exist,' Ms D'Ubios said in a Facebook post.
She has also voiced a long rant about 'overthrowing the system'.
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