Hayden Burbank and Mark Babbage allegedly falsified documents to attend grand final
Two Demons fans accused of lying to sneak into WA for the AFL grand final have been hit with raft of new charges in another state.
Victoria
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Two diehard Melbourne Demons fans who snuck into WA to see the AFL Grand Final have been hit with a raft of new charges.
Northern Territory police say prominent Victorian restaurateur Hayden Burbank, 49, and Mark Babbage, 38 entered the Northern Territory from Victoria on September 14.
On arrival they completed a border entry form and agreed to self-quarantine and Covid testing, with police alleging they did not isolate while awaiting for their results following further investigations.
Both men allegedly fraudulently submitted falsified documents to obtain driver’s licences and open bank accounts in the NT.
On September 22 they travelled from Darwin into Western Australia to see the Dees win the historic AFL grand final. It’s alleged the pair claimed to be NT residents.
WA Police later arrested the pair for Covid-19 breaches, where they were remanded until October 13.
The pair’s bucket list lads trip was exposed after a damning photograph taken inside the club rooms after the game was posted on the AFL’s official instagram page.
Footage showed the pair lurking around top players and even coach Simon Goodwin in the immediate hours after the game.
They were not on the guest list to be in the changerooms and managed to wrangle tickets to the official AFL afterparty held at Perth’s Crown Casino.
NT Serious Crime Detectives issued summons for the two men for contravention of emergency declaration, giving false name/misleading information, knowingly uttering forged document and criminal deception to obtain benefit.
Incident Controller Commander Sachin Sharma said the pair were due to appear in Darwin Local Court on November 16.
“Police will allege that both these men have gone to great lengths to circumvent the Chief Health Officers directions, designed to keep our community safe, and in doing so have committed serious crimes,” Commander Sharma said.
“NT Police have been working in conjunction with WA Police and investigations into this incident are still ongoing. I would like to reassure the community that these men did not arrive from a hotspot in Victoria and have since retuned negative Covid test results.
“There is no risk to the Northern Territory community and the police will continue to have a zero tolerance approach for any such activities.”
Both men are currently remanded in custody in a Perth jail and they are due in court on Wednesday.
In WA they are facing three counts of failing to comply with a direction under the Emergency Management Act.
They will be represented by top lawyer Andrew Tehan.
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