By Brendan Rees
A Cranbourne man who drove more than 40km away from his home has told police he was getting petrol.
He was among six people in the 24 hours to Monday 21 September to be fined by Victoria Police at state-wide vehicle checkpoints for breaching stage-four restrictions.
The man’s car was intercepted at a Rosebud checkpoint where he allegedly told officers he was “in the area to get petrol”.
And on 16 September Victoria Police reported that an Endeavour Hills man was fined after officers found him in Prahran. He told officers he had travelled to buy shoes.
A resident has also told her shock after witnessing about 17 teens playing cricket in Cranbourne East while not wearing masks or social distancing on Sunday afternoon, 22 September.
Kasey, who did not want her surname identified, said she was walking her puppy with her boyfriend when they spotted the group at a reserve next Cranbourne East Primary School about 3pm.
“I couldn’t believe the irresponsibility of all of those people involved, and I am thankful that it was reported,” she said.
“I just think everyone should do the right thing and not disobey the law so that we can come out of this stronger. This is the first I’ve seen of anything in this area like this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was other occurrences.”
Another resident has told Star News that they spotted people gathering at Narre Warren South P-12 College as well as R M Reedy Reserve in Hampton Park “enjoying their sports training whilst the rest of us do the right thing”.
However, Covid-19 cases have dropped markedly in Casey with 55 active cases of coronavirus recorded in the City of Casey in the 24 hours to Monday 21 September. Cardinia recorded seven active cases while Dandenong had 15.
Victoria recorded 11 new cases of the virus on Monday – the lowest figure since 16 June.
Meanwhile, a coronavirus denier who is believed to have participated in a gathering at a Cranbourne gym in July to purportedly discuss coronavirus theories, has posted a photo to his Facebook page on 20 September showing multiple Victoria Police infringement notices being used as a toilet roll.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said police continued to conduct proactive patrols throughout the community as well as issuing “fines for deliberate, obvious and blatant breaches of the CHO directions”.
“If people are concerned about breaches of the CHO directions, they should report it to the Police Assistance Line.”
In other developments, Premier Daniel Andrews said five households in Casey who broke stage four lockdown rules last week would not be fined.
“The last thing we want to do is to try and do contact tracing where people are not being truthful,” he said. “It just means people will, not everyone perhaps, but I think a significant portion of people will not give you the full story.”
