Disgraced ABC journalist Peter Lloyd could be out of a Singapore jail cell and back on Australian soil in just one year if his drug trafficking charge is downgraded to possession, according to a leading Singapore criminal barrister.
Lloyd is facing a maximum of 20 years' jail and 15 strokes of the cane on five drug charges, but Subhas Anandan has told Fairfax newspapers many of his clients have had their trafficking charges reduced.
"He could get about a year if you take the consuming and possessing charges and run them concurrently," Mr Subhas told Fairfax.
"I know from my experience with many past cases that trafficking charges can get reduced to possessing … It happens all the time."
Mr Subhas cited the high-profile case of 23-year-old German student Julia Bohl who had faced the death penalty when caught with 678 grams of marijuana.
Mr Subhas pushed for a possession downgrade after lab tests reduced the purity of her drugs to 281 grams, with Bohl eventually sentenced to five years' jail.
"If they go on with all the charges, then in Singapore law at least two sentences must run consecutively," warned Subhas of Lloyd's predicament should he face all five charges.
"Depression and the type of work you do can drive you to take drugs. [He can say he is] not the normal type of person who just goes on for the fun of it, but he got addicted because of all the emotional trauma that he was going through.
"But whatever you say, you are faced with the minimum sentence and that you cannot escape," he said.
Lloyd's case will be heard in Singapore's Subordinate Courts on August 11.
His lawyer, Hamidul Haq, met with a district judge and state prosecutor on Friday and admitted his client was holding up well.
Mr Subhas admitted the sentencing is harsh, but insists Lloyd will not be used as an example to deter others from using party drugs in Singapore.
"He will get the same sentence any Singaporean would have got," he said. "I don't think there's a policy that if you are a foreigner you get a harsh sentence.
"As it is, the drug laws, the mandatory sentencing is really harsh. And then to treat someone from outside Singapore with a harsher sentence, I think it will be very, very unfair."
