Undischarged bankrupt gets six weeks' jail for entering a casino using a stolen identity card
Published 8 hours ago
Ng Huiwen
SINGAPORE - An undischarged bankrupt used a stranger's identity card to enter a casino multiple times, despite knowing that he was excluded under the Casino Control Act.
On Monday, Wee Hai Heng, 53, was sentenced to six weeks' jail for his offences. He had pleaded guilty to five charges, with another 21 taken into consideration.
In 2013, Wee found a Singapore identity card at his Keppel Terminal Avenue workplace and decided to keep it.
In July the following year, he used it to enter the Resorts World Sentosa casino to gamble on several occasions, although he knew that he was not to enter casinos after he was declared bankrupt in October 2012.
Calling for a jail sentence of five to six weeks, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tow Chew Chi said that Wee's offences were "more egregious" as compared to a person who had breached a self exclusion order.
In mitigation, Wee, who was unrepresented, said through a court interpreter: "I know I'm in the wrong. I feel very sorry towards my family members. If I were to go to jail, it'll negatively impact my wife and child."
Pleading for a lighter sentence, he added that he is the sole breadwinner of the family, who are currently living together in a rented flat.
However, district judge Lee Poh Choo agreed with the prosecution and said that Wee should not be going to the casinos to gamble if he was an undischarged bankrupt.
For entering a casino using another person's identification documents, Wee could have been jailed up to three years, fined up to $10,000 or both.
