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Barred punter fails in appeal against jail
By Elena Chong
The Straits Times
Thursday, Apr 11, 2013
SINGAPORE - A gambler who flushed his mother's identity card (IC) down the toilet after using it to enter the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino had his appeal against his four-week jail sentence rejected last week.
Last Friday, Justice Choo Han Teck decided that prison would do 42-year-old Tan Hiang Seng good, as it would allow him to reflect on the harm he could have caused his family.
The judge also believed Tan was at risk of re-offending.
It was in June 2011 when his brother got a family exclusion order barring Tan, a habitual gambler, from going to the casinos here.
But Tan started using his mother's IC instead to get into the MBS casino.
The management was alerted to his unlawful entry on Dec 9, 2011, when Tan swiped his personal casino membership card at a gaming table to gain points. A check then showed that Madam Goo Ha Ying's IC had been used on multiple occasions to gain entry into the casino.
While being detained at the security office, Tan asked to go to the toilet. There, he flushed his mother's IC away as he was afraid that it would be found on him.
Last November, Tan, who is in sales and runs his own business, was sentenced to four weeks in jail after pleading guilty to five charges of using his mother's IC at MBS casino in December 2011. He was also fined $2,000 for destroying the IC. Another 22 charges, including eight counts of failing to pay the casino's $100 entry levy, were considered.
During his appeal against the four-week jail sentence, Tan's lawyer, Mr Paul, who goes by only one name, argued that the court erred in finding that Tan had a "weakness or addiction to gambling". He also said not enough weight was given to the argument that the father of two and sole breadwinner turned to gambling because he had problems at work and with his wife.
But Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan argued that there were aggravating factors which warranted a jail sentence.
A serial offender, Tan had carefully planned the offences by stealing his mother's IC, starting to enter the casino illegally on Nov 17, 2011. The prosecution also submitted that the offences were difficult to detect, and the destruction of the IC made things worse.
Tan will begin his jail sentence on May 3.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
By Elena Chong
The Straits Times
Thursday, Apr 11, 2013
SINGAPORE - A gambler who flushed his mother's identity card (IC) down the toilet after using it to enter the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino had his appeal against his four-week jail sentence rejected last week.
Last Friday, Justice Choo Han Teck decided that prison would do 42-year-old Tan Hiang Seng good, as it would allow him to reflect on the harm he could have caused his family.
The judge also believed Tan was at risk of re-offending.
It was in June 2011 when his brother got a family exclusion order barring Tan, a habitual gambler, from going to the casinos here.
But Tan started using his mother's IC instead to get into the MBS casino.
The management was alerted to his unlawful entry on Dec 9, 2011, when Tan swiped his personal casino membership card at a gaming table to gain points. A check then showed that Madam Goo Ha Ying's IC had been used on multiple occasions to gain entry into the casino.
While being detained at the security office, Tan asked to go to the toilet. There, he flushed his mother's IC away as he was afraid that it would be found on him.
Last November, Tan, who is in sales and runs his own business, was sentenced to four weeks in jail after pleading guilty to five charges of using his mother's IC at MBS casino in December 2011. He was also fined $2,000 for destroying the IC. Another 22 charges, including eight counts of failing to pay the casino's $100 entry levy, were considered.
During his appeal against the four-week jail sentence, Tan's lawyer, Mr Paul, who goes by only one name, argued that the court erred in finding that Tan had a "weakness or addiction to gambling". He also said not enough weight was given to the argument that the father of two and sole breadwinner turned to gambling because he had problems at work and with his wife.
But Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan argued that there were aggravating factors which warranted a jail sentence.
A serial offender, Tan had carefully planned the offences by stealing his mother's IC, starting to enter the casino illegally on Nov 17, 2011. The prosecution also submitted that the offences were difficult to detect, and the destruction of the IC made things worse.
Tan will begin his jail sentence on May 3.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
