A team of Iraqi removalists accused of driving from Covid-ravaged Sydney to regional New South Wales after being told at least one had the virus have denied knowing they were infected.
Roni and Ramsin Shawka, 27, Maryo Shanki, 21, and a fourth man, 49, were already in Orange when NSW Health called to inform Roni that he had tested positive to the highly contagious Indian Delta strain.
Police allege the crew kept driving to Molong, further west, to finish off their delivery before being escorted home by cops after two more of the men tested positive.
The twins and Shanki have now been charged with breaching public health orders and are set to face Orange Local Court on August 30.
But Roni, who moved to Australia from Iraq, says they are not to blame and he had not known he was Covid-positive.
Roni Shawka, 27, (pictured with partner) says he did not know he had Covid when he and a team of removalists drove to regional NSW
Ramsin Shawka, 27, (pictured with partner) was also part of the removalist team and has since tested positive
'Of course I feel very bad, I feel very bad for what I have done, but it's not my fault. I was driving and he called me from the health department, he told me to stop working and go home, I was already in Orange,' Roni Shawka told the Daily Telegraph.
'I gave them the number of my boss, I told them my language is not very good. I did not kill someone… I was doing my work, I swear to god I didn't know I was positive.'
The removalists, who work as independent contractors for a large western Sydney firm, took off from Figtree near Wollongong on Thursday for a job.
When they returned that evening, their employer Aram Yousif told them they must get tested for Covid-19 under new restrictions brought in by the NSW government.
The new measures require 'essential workers' from Fairfield, Liverpool and the Canterbury-Bankstown areas to undergo regular tests if they are to leave their Local Government Areas - now the epicente of Sydney's outbreak which has climbed to 1,242 infections.
After getting tests under these rules, people only need to isolate
