Chef breached self isolation by going to get cigarettes

Daniel Santos, 26, of Staff Quarters, Crabby Jack’s, Vazon Road, Castel, admitted a total of four breaches when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court.

He had arrived in Guernsey from Southampton on 28 July and was told about the isolation requirements at the airport, Advocate Jenny McVeigh, prosecuting, told the court.

The following day a manager of the Christies Group suggested that Santos had breached the law. Police officers visited him at his address and gave him words of advice, reminding him of his obligation to isolate.

Advocate McVeigh said the property had CCTV coverage of its front door and it was when this was viewed by officers that the four breaches were seen.

On one occasion, Santos went to an upstairs flat and spoke to a man there, who then went down to Santos’s flat from which he emerged about 90 seconds later.

The second time, he again went upstairs and two men from a flat went to Santos’s apartment, where they stayed for about an hour and a half.

Another clip of footage showed him placing a note on a side table by the front door of the property. When another man came in later, seemingly to view the note, Santos had stood in close proximity to him while they talked until the other man left.

The fourth occasion was at about 5.30am one day and Santos was seen leaving the building to talk to a person on a motorbike for about two minutes and the footage showed an exchange of something between them.

When spoken to after finishing his isolation by police, he initially said he had not been to another flat.

When stills from the CCTV were shown to him, Santos said he had gone upstairs to get ‘necessary items’, including cigarettes and a lighter.

Advocate McVeigh said there was one relevant matter on Santos’s record, a public order offence from August last year.

Defending Santos, Advocate David Domaille said his client lived in multi-occupancy staff accommodation and had told him he had misunderstood what was required of him. He had been employed by the restaurant since 2018.

Judge Graeme McKerrell said Santos must have had the requirements explained to him both at the airport and by the officers who visited him.

He gave him only limited credit for his guilty pleas, since he had not initially accepted a breach of the law and had been caught red-handed on CCTV.

Since Santos was likely to be evicted, this was also taken into account, said the Judge.

‘No one denies that isolation is hard and it can be made even harder by living in multi-occupancy buildings because of being able to hear people coming and going in freedom.

‘It’s a freedom you put at risk by your selfish actions,’ he said.

Santos was fined £1,500 for each of the first two offences, and £2,000 for each of the others.