HE feels guilty for putting his family through this
ordeal.
Mr Lionel Rudolf Zupancich, a divorced father of two teenage girls,
said: 'They were extremely shocked, especially my family
here.
'It was a good thing my daughters are not living here, because I
wouldn't have known how to face them when I was handcuffed.'
Even his Thai girlfriend of several years, who was living at Oxley
Garden with him, was clueless about his dark secret.
He said his girlfriend came to know of his arrest and the drug
habit only when the officers went to search his home.
The two of them are still close, although she is now back in
Thailand.
On the day he was arrested, Mr Zupancich was supposed to meet his
sister and younger brother, Alex, at about 5pm.
When he didn't show up, they were worried and 'called all the
hospitals and even the traffic police to look for me'.
PRIVATE LIFE
'At that time, I lived separately from them. So, outside of our
family business, I didn't tell them much about my private life. Of
course, they didn't know I was doing drugs,' he said.
'She too, was very worried, and was communicating with my brother.
Both were trying to locate me.
'I felt extremely bad when I was eventually taken home in handcuffs
early the next morning.'
His family paid him fortnightly visits in prison.
'I apologised to my family and have promised to clean up my act. I
forgot about them, about what's important to me.
'Instead, I chose to chase success and use drugs in the process,'
he said.
Mr Zupancich is now living in his family's Sunshine Plaza residence
on Middle Road; it was also where he lived during his six-week home
detention period before his release last Tuesday. During home
detention, he was still monitored strictly.
He had to be at work by 9am and by 10.45pm, he had to be
home.
If not, the electronic tag he wore would alert the
authorities.
But when he was released, he got another shock.
He said: 'Although I had the necessary documents that allowed me to
stay here with my family, I was sent for deportation,' he
said.
'I was number 727 in the deportation queue that day. I was to be
sent back to Britain for good.'
He panicked.
But his family and lawyers came and managed to get an extension
while the authorities review my case.
'I am hoping the result will be favourable and that I can stay.
Singapore is my home now.'
He was afraid that the family's closeness would change with his
arrest and conviction.
'But we are even closer now,' he said.
Mr Zupancich added: 'The thing that I regret most is that through
my arrest, I've dragged my family down with me.
'The first few hours when I was at the CNB office, I worried not so
much for myself, but for the family and our business.'
He was also anxious to explain things to them, as they were
'totally in the dark about the drugs'.
QUITS FROM FAMILY BUSINESS
As they were running a business, the family had to distance
themselves from Mr Zupancich when it came to their retail
affairs.
'I voluntarily resigned, and the family started proceedings to
remove me as a director,' he said.
'But as a family, I'm very grateful that they stood by me all the
way.'
When Mr Zupancich was released on bail two weeks after his arrest,
the family had a big homecoming dinner waiting for him.
'There was roast lamb, Yorkshire pudding, and all my favourite
foods,' he recalled.
'Mum didn't lecture me and she was calm.'
But, after she hugged him and fussed over his health, she asked,
quite sternly: 'What did you think you were doing?'
'There is no worse punishment than to know you've hurt your family
members,' Mr Zupancich said.
Unlike many Western families, the Zupancichs live and work
together.
They own a popular jewellery-making school at Sunshine Plaza.
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THE CASE
THE drug bust in which Mr Zupancich was nabbed was one of two
high-profile raids in the past two years.
Fourteen people, most of them foreigners, were arrested in that
operation last December.
The CNB officers received a tip-off around October last year.
After some surveillance, they swept in and detained the drug
users.
Eleven of the 14 - two Britons, a Japanese, seven Thais and a
Singaporean - were charged with offences ranging from drug
trafficking and consumption to drug possession.
Besides Mr Zupancich and ringleader Nipaporn, other expatriates
sentenced to jail included Scottish engineer Jason Taylor,
33.
He was jailed for 11 months for having 0.71g of
cocaine.
Jun Terashima, 45, a Japanese sales director of a pearl wholesaler
and one of Mr Zupancich's business associates, was jailed for 10
months.
He had consumed Ice.