KFC order leads police to illegal partygoers who cop $26k fine
A giant KFC order overheard by chance has alerted police to an illegal COVID-19 breach in Victoria, costing the hungry group a total of $26,000 in fines.
Victoria Chief Commissioner Shane Patton slammed people refusing to comply with the state's stage three stay-at-home restrictions, calling the behavior "unacceptable" and "selfish".
Mr Patton revealed police fined 16 people $1652 after attending a house party in Melbourne's south-east.
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Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said police will be ramping up compliance procedures amid Victoria's second wave of COVID-19. Getty
Ambulance personnel were getting a meal at a Dandenong KFC about 1.30am and noticed two people ordering 20 meals.
After speaking to the two customers a report was made to police, who got the registration number of the car and followed them to a town house where they found 16 people hiding out the back.
"That is ridiculous that type of behaviour," Mr Patton said.
"That is $26,000 that birthday party is costing them. That is a heck of a birthday party to recall.
"They will remember that one for a long time."
Mr Patton said police also issued infringement notices to four sex workers and someone who attempted to breach a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city.
The Sex Industry Coordination Unit issued four fines to a group of people breaching the Chief Health Officer's directions at an apartment in Glen Waverley. Police found four people inside who did not live there. The apartment was being used as a brothel.
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Victoria Police officers patrolling near Melbourne public housing towers. Getty
As a result, police will be ramping up infringement notices to deal with people still refusing to comply with the state's health order.
"If people don't want to comply, we will make them," he said.
"This type of blatant obvious deliberate disregard for the Chief Health Officer's guidelines we will be enforcing and we will continue to do that."
Victoria police breaches and fine over the past 24 hours
- 976 spot checks on people at homes, business and public places across the state.
- Total of 94,363 spot checks conducted since March 21
- 5,460 vehicles checked from 3pm yesterday until 7am today
- 12 fines issued for breaches of the Chief Health Officer's restrictions at vehicle checkpoints across the state
- Sixty fines issued for COVID-19 stage three restriction breaches
A record 288 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours in Victoria. Nine
Victoria has recorded 288 new cases overnight, however the State's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, said numbers are likely to worsen.
"Certainly 288 new cases today is a pretty ugly number. We have talked about the fact that we would expect an increase in numbers over time and there was no room for complacency at any point in time," he said.
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Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, updates the media on Victoria's coronavirus situation. 10 July 2020. 9News
"There is absolutely reassurance in the level of testing we are doing … But it is an indication of the transmission that was occurring a week ago that showing up in the numbers today and we may well see it worsen before it gets better."
Mr Sutton said numbers are expected to plateau in the next fortnight however transmission levels will only come down if people respect lockdown restrictions.
"There are four reasons to leave home, they are really the only reasons to leave home," he said.
"Don't look for excuses, don't look for ways around. Lived to the spirit and the law of those four reasons, because that is what will get us through this."
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