A 53-year-old mother admits it was a ‘mistake’ to sneak into an airman’s quarantine hotel room after he gave her his number through the window.
The divorcee was caught in the 26-year-old RAAF member’s room at the luxury Pier One hotel in Sydney at about 12.45am on Tuesday.
Daily Mail Australia understands the pair had been kissing in his room before the sound of a woman’s voice aroused the suspicion of Defence Force guards.
‘It was such a mistake, I didn’t need to be there,’ the woman told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday afternoon.
A woman was caught in the quarantine hotel room of a RAAF airman who had just returned from overseas deployment
The tryst saw them both fined $1,000 for breaching coronavirus rules as the airman was in 14-day quarantine after returning from overseas deployment.
Witnesses said the woman, who was staying on the first floor of the hotel – reserved for non-quarantined guests – was enjoying drinks with friends at Bar One, on the ground floor, on Monday night.
After knocking back five espresso martinis and two glasses of wine, she spotted the airman who was sipping a beer in his third-floor room.
She was seen ‘dancing flirtatiously’ to get his attention, and the airman held up a paper sign saying he was in quarantine.
He followed up with another sign with his phone number scrawled on it and after she texted him, told her how to get to his hotel floor.
The airman’s room is said to be just above the red metal, on the third floor of the hotel
ADF personnel in charge of security at the hotel failed to initially see the woman when she went to level three to enter the officer’s room.
Police were called and both were issued fines, with the woman immediately kicked out of the hotel and sent back to her home in Hornsby, in Sydney’s north.
On Tuesday, police said the airman had ‘entertained’ the woman in his room and she was told to get a coronavirus test then self-isolate.
However, the 53-year-old claimed she was not told she had to self-isolate and was awaiting written directions.
She said the airman tested negative and police would keep her informed of whether he developed any coronavirus symptoms.
Pier One is one of Sydney’s premier luxury hotels, sitting on the water right next to the Harbour Bridge. The third floor is being used to quarantine returned military
Witnesses said the woman, who was staying on the first floor of the hotel, was enjoying drinks with friends at Bar One, on the ground floor, before she spotted the airman
The woman was not at her Hornsby home for much of the day on Wednesday, according to neighbours, and was driving her flash black car when Daily Mail Australia contacted her by phone.
‘I am cooperating with the police and they’re trying to keep me as safe as possible and what I should do. I’m going to do what I’m told,’ she said.
The self-employed businesswoman said she was at Pier One, overlooking the Harbour Bridge, to unwind after working hard to organise a charity event.
She said the cancer charity fundraiser featured recipes by former My Kitchen Rules chef Manu Feidel.
‘I had a big weekend cooking and preparing for the guests, so I was taking a break in a hotel room to rest after a three-week effort,’ she said.
‘My mother recently passed away from cancer and I’m always looking for compassionate ways to deal with my grief.
‘Raising money for this cause gives me a reason to go on without her.’
The woman was staying in this room on Monday night to relax after planning a charity event
Despite the airman’s sign that he was in quarantine, the woman claimed she didn’t know she was doing anything wrong by meeting him.
‘I’m surprised that I was able to stay in a hotel that was being used for quarantine. It wasn’t strictly defined as to what the restrictions were on other guests,’ she said.
ADF personnel guarding quarantine hotels across Australia have been held in far greater regard than private security firms blamed for Victoria’s outbreak.
However, questions are now being raised about their performance after failing to guard their own troops.
There was little visible ADF security seen at the hotel on Tuesday, but this was significantly beefed up on Wednesday after the news broke.
Source: Daily Mail AU
