Bird-loving Air Hostess Fined $1,000
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday July 24, 1991
A South American flight attendant was fined $1,000 yesterday after she tried illegally to take a galah out of Australia, claiming she wanted the bird for her collection in Buenos Aires.
Ms Daniela Wanda Roszkowski, 45, was arrested at Sydney Airport yesterday morning while boarding a flight to Buenos Aires when an x-ray security screening revealed a live bird in a cage inside her bag.
A Federal prosecutor, Ms Joanne Wing, tendered a statement in Central Local Court which said that Roszkowski, who arrived in Sydney last week, admitted buying the galah at Paddy's Markets at Redfern last Saturday "for the purpose of taking it back to Buenos Aires to add to her collection of birds".
Roszkowski, a flight attendant for 23 years with the airline Aerolineas Argentinas, was charged with attempting to export a galah in breach of the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982. She pleaded guilty. The act prohibits the export of any wildlife specimen without a permit.
Through a Spanish interpreter, Roszkowski told the court that she was"guilty out of ignorance" and she had no intention of breaking the law.
The magistrate, Mr Greg Glass, said Roszkowski's crime was serious, but he accepted that she did not know what she was doing was illegal. Mr Glass fined Roszkowski $1,000 and gave her three months to pay.
© 1991 Sydney Morning Herald
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