A loved-up couple caught on CCTV sharing an intimate moment on the lawn outside Mindil Beach Casino Resort have left court with red faces and good behaviour bonds. The Darwin Local Court heard Tiras Escobar, 43, and Michelle Mununggurr, 39, spent the afternoon sharing a romantic drink before settling down on the grass for a quickie on March 12. Court documents show the casino’s cameras recorded Mununggurr performing a brief sex act on Escobar lasting “approximately three seconds” near the main car park at about 5.10pm. A short time later the pair were approached by security and asked to leave before police were called in and both were arrested for their frisky faux pas. Escobar and Mununggurr were each charged and later pleaded guilty to performing an act of gross indecency in a public place. Their lawyer, Elana Scoufis, told the court her clients, who had recently been homeless, were in a long-term relationship and “love each other very much”. Ms Scoufis argued the couple’s romp wasn’t as public as it might have been, saying “it’s not as if it was in the middle of Mitchell St on a busy day”. “I have perhaps had the misfortune of seeing that CCTV and there is a grassy patch, it was not right outside the front entrance of the casino, there was very minimal foot traffic,” she said. “It seems that it (only) came to the attention of anybody because security were watching the security cameras outside the casino so it’s not the case that a great number of (people) had to view this particular act.” Judge Elisabeth Armitage disagreed, saying “it was a pretty public location” but prosecutor Bahareh Jaber did not object to Ms Scoufis’s argument a good behaviour bond would be punishment enough for the couple’s indiscretion.
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