A man who travelled to Beechworth during Victoria's coronavirus lockdown last year has unsuccessfully contested the charge in court.
Benalla man Michael Damien Forster received a $1652 infringement notice after driving to Tom and Erin's Nursery and Beechworth Bakery with his partner on August 10.
Victorians were at the time banned from leaving their homes, except for shopping for food and supplies, caregiving, exercise, and work and study.
Forster's objection to the charge coincidentally occurred as the state government reintroduced the bans on Thursday morning.
He admitted he had gone to Beechworth to buy cherry, peach and nectarine trees for his home.
"The reality is you could have got those trees in Benalla?" Leading Senior Constable Lisa Lorenz asked Forster in body-worn footage of the incident played in court.
"Yes," Forster replied.
They both said they didn't realise they were breaching the stay-at-home orders.
Leading Senior Constable Lorenz told the pair there had been extensive coverage of the orders, which had been made about a week earlier, on TV and radio.
IN OTHER NEWS
Forster's partner asked if she was able to visit him.
"Going to your partner's place isn't an issue - today the issue is you've come to Beechworth where we don't have the virus," she said during the incident.
Forster told the court he was stressed on the day and wanted to get out of the house.
He said after being fined, he looked up the stage three restrictions and "realised we did not commit any offences".
Magistrate Peter Mithen disagreed, and ruled it was "unreasonable" for him to travel to Beechworth.
He noted there were fines up to about $15,000 available.
But Mr Mithen said the Benalla man did not have any priors and instead ordered he pay $500 to the court fund, which will be used for charity.
"I just want you to understand, it's not to trap people," he said.
"It's to keep everyone safe."
