The teenage son of a Covid-denying Sydney businessman who plunged Byron Bay into a snap lockdown has been charged with a series of offences after allegedly joining his father on an illegal trip to the tourist town.
Zoran Radovanovic, 52, is battling Covid-19 in Lismore Hospital after he left a trail of potential contagion throughout Australia’s hottest beachside town in northern NSW.
The businessman, from Rose Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, has been charged with breaching public health orders by ignoring lockdown to drive north for eight hours to the sun-drenched hippie hangout.
His son Kristian, 19, has now also been charged with a health order breach and ordered to face court after allegedly joining his father on the illegal 750km journey.
Police allege the 19-year-old – who was last year convicted of drink driving – flouted lockdown rules by leaving Sydney and then refusing to wear a face mask or follow QR code check-in procedures while in Byron Bay.
This is the mysterious Sydneysider Zoran Radovanovic charged by police after he sent Byron Bay into a snap lockdown when he drove there with his kids while infected with coronavirus
He is due to face Byron Bay Local Court on September 27.
Kristian has Covid-19 and is in isolation, while his father’s ex-wife is in a Sydney hospital also being treated for the virus.
The charges were issued as details of his father’s shady past including drugs and theft convictions also started to emerge – and how he was lucky to even be in Australia.
The 52-year-old reportedly claimed he was legally inspecting a property in the northern NSW town – but police allege he did not have a ‘reasonable excuse’ to leave Sydney.
The rare picture of father-of-two Radovanovic – seen here on a SeaDoo eight years ago with Kristian – is the first glimpse of the alleged Covid-denier superspreader.
There are now 14 different Covid hotspots in Byron and the surrounding areas in the wake of his trip – which involved him allegedly using fake details to check in.
The area is now two days into a seven day lockdown as health officials battle to stem the spread of the virus before it takes hold. Radovanovic is refusing to co-operate with police as he fights the virus in hospital.
The former ‘aimless’ part-time plastics worker sold this home in Forestville in 2020 for $2.25 million before moving to Rose Bay in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs
He was almost thrown out of the country 22 years ago when he was discovered to be living illegally in Australia with a string of convictions and a suspended jail sentence.
Radovanovic emigrated to Australia from the former Yugoslavia in April 1991 and had already overstayed his visa when he was convicted of two charges of burglary and car theft in Melbourne in February 1992.
He was sentenced to six months jail on each charge but the sentence was suspended for 12 months.
The following month he appeared to have fled the country with his future wife Tiana Macdowell (nee Simic) when their passports were both scanned boarding an international flight from Melbourne Airport.
Covid-infected Zoran Radovanovic left a trail of contagion throughout Byron Bay after he broke lockdown to drive eight hours to the beachside idyll, forcing it into a snap lockdown. Seen here are the quiet streets of the normally bustling resort on Tuesday
But Radovanovic insists he never left the country and instead moved to Lightning Ridge where he lived illegally for years under the false name of Zoran Cuk.
His future wife later returned to Australia and married Radovanovic – but his application for Australian citizenship was rejected when he was discovered to have been an illegal alien.
He then faced further drugs charges in 1998 when cops raided two addresses in Melbourne and found him with accomplices and 40 cannabis plants being grown.
A hearing by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia took place before the court date and decided to take pity of him, allowing him to stay in the country.
The hearing found Radovanovic ‘does little to instill confidence that [he] has the inherent qualities of good character’.
There are currently 14 different Covid hotspots in Byron Bay (pictured here as a week-long lockdown began on Tuesday) and the surrounding area in the wake of his trip
The tribunal deputy president B.M. Forrest added: ‘I am not satisfied that he passes the character test.’
The tribunal said the Serbian part-time plastics worker’s life in 2000 was ‘aimless’ but hoped he would ‘demonstrate his capacity to make a contribution to Australia’ if he was allowed to stay.
Some 21 years later, Radovanovic sold his home in Forestville in 2020 for $2.25 million – which had been registered in his wife’s name – and moved to the family’s new home in Rose Bay.
Radovanovic is listed to appear in Lismore Local Court on September 13 to face the charges of breaching public health orders
It’s understood police were frequently seen at the home in Forrestville, and Radovanovic had AVOs taken out against on behalf of his now estranged wife, including one just last month.
He was due back in court next month on an AVO-related hearing and also charged with destroying an umbrella.
Radovanovic is also now listed to appear in Lismore Local Court on September 13 to face the charges relating to his trip to Byron Bay.