Jail, fine for man who entered casino with mother's IC
By Kimberly Spykerman | Posted: 15 November 2012 2317 hrs
Marina Bay Sands Casino
SINGAPORE: A 42-year-old man was sentenced to four weeks' jail and was fined S$2,000 Thursday for entering the casino at Marina Bay Sands using his mother's identity card.
Tan Hiang Seng, who works in sales, had been under the Casino Exclusion Order since June 2011, but had continued to use his mother's identity card to enter the casino.
The offences took place between November and December last year and only came to light when Tan swiped his personal casino membership card at one of the game tables to gain points.
It was then that the casino management realised Tan was under an exclusion order.
The court heard that Tan had entered the casino on 20 occasions using his mother's identity card. The prosecution proceeded on five charges, and took the rest into consideration.
It was also revealed that Tan flushed the identity card down the toilet on the day he was questioned by a security officer at the casino's security office. The card has not been recovered.
In mitigation, Tan, who is married with young children, told the court that he was very sorry for what he had done and asked the judge to give him a chance as he was a first-time offender.
But the District Judge said that what Tan had done was not a 'one-off' offence, and he had committed it 20 times.
The judge also expressed concern that Tan had managed to circumvent the exclusion order, and enter the casino on so many occasions by using another person's identification.
For using another person's identification, Tan could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined $10,000.
For disposing of an identity card, he could have been jailed up to five years and fined $5,000.
- CNA/lp
