AUSTRALIAN TV REPORTER JAILED 10 MONTHS FOR DRUG OFFENCES IN SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE, Dec 2 (Bernama) -- An Australian television reporter from the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was sentenced to 10 months' jail by
the Subordinate Court here Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to several drug
charges.

Lloyd Peter Gerard, 42, ABC's New Delhi-based correspondent, was jailed
eight months for possession of 0.41 gm of methamphetamine, a controlled drug, at
Mount Elizabeth Hospital on July 16.

Judge Hamidah Ibrahim also jailed him for another eight months for
consuming the same drug without authorisation in Singapore on July 16.

Gerard was also given an additional two months' jail on two counts of
possessing utensils that carried traces of ketamine and methamphetamine at the
same hospital on the same day. All sentences are to run concurrently.

He was arrested by Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) while on
holiday here on July 16 and was on a S$60,000 (about RM142,600)
bail.

The case was first brought up in court on July 23 where Gerard was charged
with five drug offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act that provides a jail term
of between three and 20 years and five to 15 strokes upon conviction.

But in October, the prosecution officially dropped one trafficking charge
against him -- for selling 0.15 gm of methamphetamine to a Singaporean at a
hotel here on July 9.

Gerard, who has a nine-year old son, was represented by counsel
Hamidul Haq.

Also present in court was his ex-wife Kirsty McIvor, who broke down in
tears after the judge announced the sentences.
-- BERNAMA