A man who breached shelter in place curfew rules was fined $2,000 today.

Denton Paris, 48, pleaded guilty to the offence, which happened yesterday afternoon.

Magistrates’ Court heard that at about 3.40pm police saw Paris, of Sandys, sitting on a wall near the junction of Cambridge Road and Somerset Road in Somerset.

Maria Sofianos, for the Crown, said Paris fled when he saw the officers.

But she added police spotted him in a queue of customers outside Champ’s Variety Store a short time later.

Paris told officers he had gone out to buy groceries, but was told he was not allowed to shop on Mondays.

He added: “That doesn’t apply to that store. You lot are bored.”

Paul Wilson, the duty defence counsel, said Paris was confused about the surname shopping policy because the variety store had not enforced it.

Mr Wilson said: “He went on that day only because the store itself had given him the impression that it was okay.”

Paris denied that he fled from the officers when they first spotted him.

He added that he had sat on the wall near the road to smoke a cigarette before he joined the queue.

Paris said: “I didn’t want to smoke a cigarette in a line with people that didn’t smoke.”

Magistrate Tyrone Chin said the store’s failure to check IDs did not give Paris permission to breach curfew.

He said: “The defendant knew about the rules, but he chose to ignore it and laid his blame on the grocery store. This is not acceptable.”

Mr Chin warned Paris to observe by the shelter in place regulations in the future.

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