Covid 19: Auckland women behind Northland snap lockdown avoid charges

The two Auckland women responsible for a snap lockdown that sent Northland into "complete turmoil" last October have avoided legal action.

A lack of evidence supporting the claim the women obtained their required travel documents by deception proved to be the downfall.

Northland was surprised by an unexpected lockdown announced late on October 8 after one of the women tested positive in Whangārei.

For 12 days, the region was held to "ransom" as public health officials and police attempted to connect the dots about the woman's journey.

Then came the news she had travelled with a companion who also had tested positive for Covid-19 but had gone into hiding.

Police eventually caught up with her at a New Lynn address but it wasn't much comfort to Northlanders as the pair refused to cooperate with police.

Instead, officers and public health workers had to rely on CCTV footage, bank card transactions, and cellphone records to trace their movements to hotels, shops, petrol stations, and a popular coastal campsite.

This photo of the Town Basin in Whangārei was taken during the October lockdown as local businesses grappled with more financial losses. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Since then police have carried out a thorough investigation – that was also the subject of a legal review - into the pair's journey across the alert level 4 boundary.

A police spokesperson said they "determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the women obtained their Business Travel Documents by deception or that they crossed the Alert Level Border for a purpose other than what was stated on those travel documents."

"As a result, there is insufficient evidence to commence a prosecution and the matter has been filed."

Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai was "a little dumbfounded" when the Advocate contacted her with the news on Tuesday.

"I'm disappointed. They should be held to account," she said. "Look at what they did, it sent us into complete turmoil. The impact on the community was huge and we haven't recovered from that."

Mai said their actions "pitted" Northlanders against "our Auckland neighbours".

"It caused a lot of distrust that people out-of-town, from Auckland, were bringing us Covid. That was an unfortunate outcome of it."

Mai acknowledged if the case against the pair was unlikely to succeed then it was better not to invest taxpayers' money into a failed prosecution.

Back in October when Northland was still grappling with a ramped-up alert level, the Advocate spoke to Kaitāia Business Association chairwoman Andrea Panther.

At the time she said "these women are holding Northland at ransom" as businesses had to absorb thousands of dollars of lost income as the region endured level 3.

However, the past four months had dulled the importance of prosecution as Covid and the hardships it brought had moved on since October.

"I just think it's so long ago it's irrelevant now, everything's changed. There are so many more things to be thinking about," Panther said.

"Some people will feel like justice hasn't been done but for me personally, it's too late now to hear that news...we've got bigger things going on."