Border dodger jailed for six months for sneaking into WA by hiding in the back of a truck appeals her sentence
- Asher Faye Vander Sanden will fight her jail sentence for a covid border breach
- She snuck into Western Australia on a truck to avoid the hotel quarantine fees
- Vander Sanden was sentenced to six months in jail for dodging border controls
A woman sentenced to six months in jail for dodging border control measures to get into Western Australia during the coronavirus lockdown plans to fight the penalty.
Asher Faye Vander Sanden, 28, was handed a six month sentence after pleading guilty to breaching the Emergency Management Act.
Police spent 10 days trying to track her down after she was granted permission ot enter the state but did not arrive on a plane as planned.
Asher Faye Vander Sanden, 28, (pictured) was handed a six month jail sentence after pleading guilty to breaching the Emergency Management Act
Instead the 28-year-old had snuck across the border in the back of a truck in order to avoid the mandatory two weeks in quarantine and the resultant $2,500 cost.
Vander Sanden's lawyer, John Hammond, told the Perth Magistrates Court the penalty was too severe.
He argued while she had a criminal record, it was related to a past 'meth habit' which was no longer an issue.
The 28-year-old (pictured right) pleaded guilty to one count of failing to comply with a direction of the Emergency Management Act and was on Tuesday sentenced to six months behind bars
Mr Hammond is preparing legal documentation to appeal the sentence, alongside an application for her immediate release.
During the sentencing on Tuesday, magistrate Andrew Matthews told Vander Sanden her actions had the potential to undo 'what this government has done to prevent community spread', The West Australian reported.
She crossed the state border in the back of a truck after arranging it with a truck driver she met in Mildura on July 31.
The court heard she hid in a car that was being transported by the truck and did not declare herself at Eucla near the border of South and Western Australia.
The court heard she hid in a car that was being transported by the truck and did not declare herself at Eucla near the border of South and Western Australia (Pictured: officers conduct patrols at the SA border)
When she failed to arrive at Perth Airport as expected on August 11, police immediately commenced an investigation.
Police were aware of her arrival into the state but Vander Sanden refused to quarantine as instead she contacted her boyfriend who picked her up from a petrol station in Midland.
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They went back to his Scarborough home where the 28-year-old claims to have self-quarantined.
Police prosecutors told the court they were searching for Vander Sanden but she was deliberately hiding from them.
She was eventually arrested at her boyfriend's home on August 11 and has been in custody at Bandyup Prison ever since.
A woman sentenced to jail for dodging border control measures in Western Australia plans to fight the COVID-19 penalty (Pictured: A sign at the entry to Western Australia welcomes visitors)
