COVID quarantine breacher who climbed down bedsheet rope pleads guilty

A 39-year-old man has admitted breaching WA’s strict COVID quarantine laws by using bed sheets to shimmy out of his fourth floor motel room.

Travis Jay Myles flew into Perth from Brisbane on July 19, but had not completed the necessary G2G pass application form to get permission to enter the state.

He filled one out after he arrived, but it was rejected, and he was ordered to leave WA within 48 hours.

The Perth Magistrates Court was told because he was considered a risk of absconding, he was escorted to a Belmont motel where a guard was stationed outside his room.

However, about 1:00am, the motel’s manager contacted police to say CCTV footage showed Myles absconding from the room through the window using tied together bed sheets to shimmy to the ground.

‘Stupid and selfish’ behaviour

The court was told about seven hours later, detectives located Myles in the inner Perth suburb of Mount Lawley and he had to be handcuffed because he tried to escape from them.

He was not wearing a mask and told the detectives he did not agree with the directions that had been placed on him, and only wanted to return home.

Myles, who has been in quarantine in custody since his arrest, today pleaded guilty to one charge of giving false or misleading information on his application for a G2G pass, and one count of failing to obey a quarantine direction.

Myles appeared in court via video link from Hakea Prison and represented himself because he said he “did not really see the point of wasting taxpayers’ money” on a lawyer.

Myles said he was “extremely sorry” for what he had done, describing his actions as “stupid and selfish.”

“I didn’t think about my actions,” he said.

“I was returning home to WA. I didn’t think it was fair for me to fly back to Queensland to then come back to WA.

“I’ve spent a couple of weeks in custody and I’m happy to pay fines.”

The police prosecutor said Myles had an extensive record in WA, Queensland and Victoria where there were 21 pending charges against him for “serious family violence offences” and eight warrants for his arrest.

The prosecutor described Myles’s actions as “atrocious” and said an immediate term of imprisonment was called for.

He will be sentenced tomorrow.