A Dire Warning To Would be Drug Traffickers

ABC foreign correspondent and accused drug trafficker Peter Lloyd has been discharged from a Singapore hospital and offered bail ahead of his next court appearance on Friday.

The public broadcaster sent its senior legal adviser, Rob Simpson, to help Lloyd, who was formally charged at a private hearing in Changi General Hospital's prison ward with trafficking and possession of the methamphetamine ice.

Lloyd, the ABC's South Asia correspondent, was on leave in Singapore when arrested on Wednesday.

Peter Lloyd's life.

The 41-year-old was being treated for an eye infection, but a hospital spokeswoman said he was discharged at 1am Sydney time yesterday.

"He is no longer receiving treatment here,'' she said.

"He was discharged yesterday.''

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said the hearing had been attended by a consular officer from the Australian High Commission.

Singapore Central Narcotics Bureau spokesperson Agnes Lim said of Lloyd: "He has been offered bail. His case has been fixed for next mention on July 25.''

It was unclear yesterday whether Lloyd had posted bail.

An ABC spokeswoman said Mr Simpson, the head of ABC legal services, had arrived in Singapore on Friday night.

His estranged wife Kirsty McIvor, who is UNICEF's spokesperson in Indonesia, said yesterday: "

"I'm sorry, I'm not speaking to anybody.''

Lloyd and Ms McIvor are understood to have split six months ago after Lloyd came out as a gay man.

The Campbelltown NSW Australia-raised journalist faces up to 20 years in jail and 15 strokes of the cane.

According to Singapore court documents, Lloyd was charged with trafficking just under 1gm of methamphetamine to a Singaporean for $75 at a hotel earlier this month.

Police also allegedly found an improvised smoking pipe and six syringes during a search.

A friend of Lloyd's claims he was dating a Singaporean man who worked as a flight attendant for an international airline.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will be in Singapore next week for ASEAN talks and will discuss the case with Australian officials there.

The arrest of the veteran reporter has stunned ABC colleagues, who have described Lloyd as dedicated and hard-working.

A former colleague said Lloyd was an extremely generous person who was dedicated to his children.

"Peter's an incredibly kind person who would do anything for his friends, and he was an incredibly loving father,'' the colleague said.

"I just think that he's had a mid-life crisis.''

Former ABC television reporter Jacinta Tynan said she was shocked and concerned for Lloyd.

"I worked with Pete at the ABC and he was a professional,'' she said.

"I looked up to, and learned from, him as a senior reporter.'

Vest Say's this is a sorry situation which need not have happened.
Ample warning is given to all travelers not to arrive or exit or partake of high profile drugs when visiting several South East Asian Countries, particularly Singapore and Malaysia where trafficking in Heroin or Cocaine carries a mandatory death penalty by hanging. It is been twenty two years since the Australians K Barlow and B Chambers were the first Australians to suffer this fate, meaning several others have followed, will these idiots ever learn.
Peter Lloyd has had ample time to familiarise himself with the local laws in these countries and as a journalist he should know better, his latent gender problem which caused a break up with his wife and children cannot be an excuse for drug use.
I am familiar with a parallel case within my own family, married, two daughters, gay, divorce, drugs. who at 19 yrs old travelled to Singapore with us his parents Aug 1986 when we visited old friends (Muslims) in Johore Bahru Malaysia.
Even if Peter Lloyd receives a lesser penalty of 15 strokes of the cane and a custody sentence to follow, I consider it to be in excess for the infringement involved.
The Rattan cane is pure brutality, It is now outlawed in most forward thinking countries, and in a slightly lesser form; the caning of unruly school children.

Myself being familiar with the extremities of corporal punishment and the brutal flogging of young children, I shall append an excerpt from my memoirs which still remains fresh in my mind.

CHAPTER 7
Halls Naval Academy
I don’t remember how I got to HNA, but I was very pleased to be back with my brother after a year of separation. Christopher seemed changed. He was in Class 2B when I arrived on 16 December 1936. I was exactly ten years and five months of age. Christopher was in Seven Company and I was in Six Company, each company having about forty-five boys between the ages of eleven and fifteen-and-a-half. I had two days of schooling before the Christmas break, when I was told I would be in 1A not the 1B class. (The Headmaster had obviously read the letter from Mr former headmaster.
Halls Naval Academy was a charity school with a nautical theme run on militaristic principles. The estate was located in the Suffolk rural countryside far from the outside world. It was situated on the edge of a plateau that sloped east to a valley near the river Eastham where the school farmed the land.
HNA had a population of a large staff and about three hundred students between eleven and sixteen years of age. The students were allowed to take two three-week vacations each year during the summer and at Christmas. All other holiday periods were spent at the school. Students without guardians never left the school. Students had no access to the outside world, arbitrary access, or personal rights. Discipline was strict. Hunger and fear of punishment were constant. Love and affection were non-existent. All communication to and from the school was censored. Those boys who never left the school on vacation became conditioned to their surroundings (like caged birds) and were probably happier at the school than those of us who had occasional release from our incarceration.
On the 20 December 1936, having been told by my brother that he was going home again to Auntie Parker, I raised the roof and said, “I should go, too!” I was told, “No money, no ticket, no permission. Sorry, you’ll have to stay”. Like bloody hell, I thought. Then the bugler sounded the action stations call and the lucky ones – about half the population of the school – marched to the East Oakville Station.
Two or three hours later, I was on a train that had stopped at a large station. My friend, Ernie Booker and I had no idea where we were going and must have looked conspicuous. The ticket bloke and staff at the station locked us up. Soon after, we were back at HNA.
Living in a dark cloud of rejection, I was totally at odds with that place. I wondered how much more I would have to suffer.
22 December 1936
My brother had arrived in Charlham. Meanwhile, I was confused and in a state of apathy. Ernie and I were in serious trouble. Having only been at this place for six days, I was to get six cuts of the cane. Having no one to turn to for help, I was wretchedly homesick. It was suggested by a few teachers that because it was so close to Christmas we should be forgiven, but our Capt. Superintendent Known as "Flogger Campbell, replied, “Peace on earth and goodwill to all men applies only on Christmas day.”
The remaining population of the school gathered to witness our punishment. A box horse for us to bend over was produced, plus the biggest rattan cane – even bigger than the one at Charlham School. Ernie went first. It seemed like a bloody execution – minus the knitting hags, the French National Anthem, and a basket for our heads. Ernie was brave but white as a sheet after his six, and had to go to the sickbay. I later learned he had received a testicular injury.
Ernie going first made little difference, as another instructor, ‘Gunner Marten’ was to be my tormentor. I felt bloody awful. My thin trousers barely hid the bleeding welts across my buttocks. After the six strokes, I shouted in agonising pain, “I hope you die, you rotten cruel sod!” and got number seven. Gunner Marten died during the war about four years later. I was unmoved.
Christmas in HNA was over. Our total excitement had consisted of two church parades, an apple, an orange, and cake. Where was Charlie Dickens? What a pity he missed out on this place. Remember, at the time I was just ten yrs and five months old, and the staff all wonderfully kind Christian Bastards.
BTW Flogger Campbell in 1949 was given a custodial sentence but died shortly after I am told.
Have a lovely day, and be extra kind to your Children. Vest.