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John Hawkins / Things
Former animal control officer Michael Murdoch has been fined $ 1,500 for violating the national COVID-19 confinement rules. (File photo)
An Invercargill animal control officer who licked his fingers and wiped them from his workplace reception window the day he was told he had recovered from Covid-19 lost his job and was fined $ 1,500 .
Michael James Murdoch, who had provisional name deletion, appeared in Invercargill District Court Thursday to be sentenced on a charge of failing to meet a medical health officer’s requirement to stay home unless it was for a motion. essential personnel or essential permitted movement. .
Judge Russell Walker found Murdoch guilty of the charge after a trial in October.
During the trial, Murdoch said: “It was absolutely stupid. I wish I never had, but I did. “
Murdoch had tested positive for Covid-19 last year and was required to remain in quarantine for 28 days.
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On April 16, Murdoch had been called by the Southern District Board of Health to say that he was free of Covid-19.
Later that day and again on April 22, during the national alert level 4 lockdown, Murdoch went to his workplace, deemed it an essential service, and asked to be let in even though he was not registered for work.
When denied entry, he licked his fingers and wiped them by the reception window. On the second occasion, Murdoch repeated the actions of April 16, but pulled out a small knife, then also licked or breathed his hands and dried them on the car door of a coworker.
His manager, who was called as a witness at the trial, said he was informed on April 17 that the defendant had been virus-free and ordered him to return to work on April 22.
However, when a close contact of Murdoch, who also had Covid-19, felt unwell again and had to be tested again, he was told not to return to work.
When the close contact was clarified again on April 22, the manager said he would need his boss’s approval regarding when Murdoch could return to work.
Both times the areas touched by Murdoch were disinfected. The manager reported the incident to the human resources department.
A former co-worker with the Invercargill City Council Animal Care Center read a statement about the victim’s impact in court Thursday, saying that Murdoch had a warped sense of humor and was “clowning around a bit.
“What he did was without malice, but I don’t think he would have realized at the time how his actions could affect us at the facility. I wasn’t mad at him at the time, more disappointed, ”she said.
Several members of the Invercargill City Council staff had contracted the virus.
The co-worker said that many staff members had just come out of isolation and “there was a real fear of the virus.”
The co-worker said that in the second incident, Murdoch did not look well and that she was afraid she might have missed something while disinfecting where she had touched him.
Police prosecutor Marcus McMahon said emotional trauma had affected staff.
“This was just [an] affront to everything the country was trying to do [during the national lockdown] and to protect themselves “.
The police objected to a discharge without a request for a conviction.
The judge accepted that Murdoch was sorry and ashamed, but declined the exoneration without conviction, finding that the consequences of a conviction did not exceed the seriousness of the crime.
“Your actions were a staggering lack of judgment, not once but twice.
“His behavior in the workplace each time was youthful.”
The judge said the crime was moderate to severe and that Murdoch had lost his job as a direct result of his actions.
The judge fined Murdoch $ 1,500.
