A man who coughed towards staff and told them "I have COVID" after he was refused entry to Wests Illawarra at Unanderra has been fined $2200 in court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ryan David Hintz, 29, was turned away from the club about 8.30pm on August 7 after staff noted his driver's licence was from Victoria - a state then in total lockdown due to the pandemic.
Hintz told staff he had been living in the Illawarra for five months and simply hadn't changed his licence due to the cost.
According to police he became "quarrelsome and argumentative" when denied by staff and asked to speak to a manager.
He gave staff his phone number, telling them he wanted a call back, then coughed into his hand and said, "just to let you know, I have COVID".
The club's duty officer told him, "You need to leave immediately", prompting Hintz to reply: "No".
The manager told Hintz his comment was serious and not funny at all but he only coughed into his hand again, in the direction of staff, and smiled.
A security staffer escorted Hintz outside and the matter was reported to Lake Illawarra Police.
Following an investigation, licensing police found Hintz in his car at Dapto on August 19.
He was arrested and charged with not complying with a direction under the Public Health Act, stalk/intimidate and failing to leave a premises.
He told plain-clothes licensing police, "I said some things that I probably shouldn't have ... I was kind of stupid. I was a bit drunk".
At Port Kembla Local Court on Wednesday, Magistrate Susan McGowan convicted Hintz of all three counts and fined him a total of $2200.
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.