The Singapore Sports Hub staff pass forged by Karl Phillippe Njiomo Tengueu, who was jailed for 10 weeks on May 24. - COURT DOCUMENTS
SINGAPORE: A man who flew to Singapore to watch singer Bruno Mars perform, but did not have a ticket, forged a staff pass to enter the venue.
He struck up conversations with staff members of Singapore Sports Hub while recording videos of their passes, and used Photoshop to forge one with his face and name on it.
On Friday (May 24), Cameroon national Karl Phillippe Njiomo Tengueu, 23, pleaded guilty to criminal trespass, cheating and forgery, and was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kiera Yu said Tengueu arrived in Singapore on April 2 to attend the concert, which was held on April 3, 5 and 6 at the National Stadium.
On April 2, he visited Singapore Sports Hub and saw some staff members with passes entering the stadium. He went up to several staff members and recorded videos of their staff passes without them knowing.
The next day, Tengueu took a screenshot of the staff pass from a video he had recorded and used Photoshop to insert his photo and name onto the screenshot. He then printed several copies of the forged staff pass at a printing shop.
That night, Tengueu wore a lanyard with the forged staff pass and a reflective vest to masquerade as a staff member.
He even posted a video on Instagram with him in the vest, with the text: “I’m trying to get into the concert of Bruno Mars without having any ticket.”
Using the forged pass, Tengueu entered the venue without going through security checks or having to scan a ticket.
At some time during the concert, he tried to enter the VIP area but was stopped by a security officer, who asked if he was authorised to be in the area. Tengueu lied that he was actually leaving the VIP area, and the security officer took a photo of the forged staff pass before letting him leave.
After the concert that night, the security officer discovered that Tengueu’s staff pass was forged. A search was conducted at Singapore Sports Hub, but he was not found that day.
Singapore Sports Hub security officers were instructed to look out for Tengueu on the subsequent days of the concert.
On April 5, Tengueu attempted to trespass into National Stadium again using his forged staff pass, but was identified and detained by security officers.
The prosecution sought 14 to 18 weeks’ in jail for Tengueu, noting that he went to significant lengths to execute his plan of gaining unauthorised entry to the venue.
Said DPP Yu: “The fact that he was spreading his method of trespassing into the National Stadium on social media speaks further to the potential damage done to the security of such large-scale events.
“(Especially) if more were to emulate his actions of flippantly flouting security checks and cheating his way into venues that he is otherwise not authorised to enter.”
Defence lawyer Han Wah Teng said his client did it in a moment of folly and that he had “never meant to harm other people there”.
But District Judge Cheng Yuxi disagreed that the crimes were committed in a moment’s folly, and noted that his actions were premeditated and planned.
She said Tengueu had even thought it fit to publish his exploits on social media, and persisted in his actions to enter the concert illegally a second time.
In March, a man was jailed for six weeks for sneaking three people into Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert at the National Stadium.
He held the turnstile for the three and pushed them through. When a concertgoer shouted after seeing what he had done, he pushed her and shook her hands aggressively.
He was arrested the same day. - The Straits Times/ANN
