Demons fans jailed for breach

TWO rabid Demons fans who faked documents to sneak into Western Australia to attend the AFL grand final have been sentenced to at least three months’ jail for breaching Covid-19 laws.

Prominent Melbourne restaurateur Hayden Burbank, 49, and his 39-year-old financial planner friend Mark Babbage left Melbourne for Darwin on September 14, then flew to Perth on September 22.

The mad Demons fans went to the premiership decider at Optus Stadium on September 25 and were snapped mingling among players in the change rooms after the team’s drought-breaking win against the Western Bulldogs.

The pair breached Western Australia’s border rules because they did not meet criteria to get an exemption to enter the state – coming from a high-risk jurisdiction – did not have a Covid-19 test 72 hours before leaving it and show evidence of a negative result, and did not declare on their G2G form that they had come from Victoria.

Perth Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday Babbage had provided a falsified Northern Territory driver’s licence, an ANZ bank statement showing an NT address and an NT residential tenancy agreement.

The magistrate handed down a 10-month jail sentence, with three months to be served immediately. The remaining seven months was suspended.