The court has slapped a four-week jail sentence each on three foreigners who used forged passes to catch Ed Sheeran when he played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium earlier this month, The Straits Times reported.
The true crime here, however, is that these are actual grown men who like the soppy singer-songwriter enough to cheat their way into the sold-out concerts.
New Zealanders Scott Fabian Antony Penk, 34, and Michael Stanton Hardgrave, 30, admitted to conspiring to use forged concert passes. Meanwhile, 60-year-old Brit Martin Joseph Keane admitted to using a forged “Ed Sheeran All Area Access Family and Guests” pass.
On Nov 12, the Kiwi pair managed to obtain a couple of fake concert passes from unknown parties and used them to take others into the stadium for a fee. In total, they brought seven people into the show using forged passes, collecting $1,050 from their illegal exploits. Both Penk and Hardgrave were detained by stadium staff soon after.
The British national, on the other hand, held malicious intent right from the start, according to the ST report. Keane communicated with 56-year-old Australian Paul Cosgrove and planned to drop by Singapore to buy and sell tickets to the Ed Sheeran concert. On Nov 11, Cosgrove obtained a few forged “All Area Access Family and Guests” passes and handed them to Keane.
Keane used the passes to take in four people into the stadium, collecting $250 from each of them. The loot was split with Cosgrove.
The Brit was detained that night when he tried to take another three people into the premises.
While the three mentioned above have already been sentenced, court proceedings are still ongoing for Cosgrove and another Brit man, Luke Simon McKay, for scheming to use the fake passes. The Australian will have his case mentioned next Tuesday, while McKay will be back in court on Dec 8.
