Offender must live with mum at Moama while awaiting Albury sentencing

Martisha Haigh was ordered by NSW Health to spend her 14-day isolation period in her mother's home in Moama from November 1.

But three days later she bought a bus ticket and travelled to Albury, where she is known for her transient lifestyle.

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On being quickly found by Albury police, NSW Health placed her in self-isolation at Lavington's Siesta motel on Wagga Road.

She was seen that night by department staff, but by 6am the following day had gone and then spent weeks at large.

Haigh, 20, appeared in Albury Local Court on Wednesday via video link to the Albury police station cells.

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She pleaded guilty, through defence lawyer Jack Murray, to charges of failing to comply with a self-isolation direction under the NSW Public Health Act 2010 and to failing to comply with a requirement under a public health order.

Magistrate Richard Funston said this was a serious example of such breaches.

How she had acted, he said, "doesn't give me a lot of confidence that she would comply" with any further self-isolation requirements.

The court heard that Haigh no longer posed a health threat to the wider community.

Mr Murray, during a successful bail application, said his client suffered from severe anxiety and was unlikely to be given a full-time jail sentence for her offending.

The charges were adjourned to the Moama Local Court on February 9, after Mr Funston ordered the preparation of a sentence assessment report.

Mr Murray submitted that bailing Haigh to her mother's address in Moama meant she would be "quite some distance away" from family members in Albury who had been subjected to her offending.

"There's certainly not a risk of spreading COVID any further," he said.

But prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Coombs argued a full-time jail sentence remained a strong possibility.

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