Hi all,
I have been reading past posts here and I am very hopeful and happy to see the kind and amount of support the community gives here. I am wondering if I could ask for some valuable thoughts as well.
Long story short, I live with 1 flatmate, also female, in a small 2 bedroom house with a partition door between us and the owner's flat (they have access to our flat). Recently my flatmate had a male guest staying in her room for a couple of days. We have always been lax/careless about locking doors, etc because we felt pretty safe. A few weeks ago I come home shortly before the rest did to discover our combination-lock for gate was unlocked and so I asked my flatmate if anyone has been home during the day. We later on found out that my ring has gone missing, nothing from my flatmate but apparently money amounting to US$3,000+ from her male guest. So my flatmate and I went to the nearest police station to file a report.
When we got there, initially they didn't want to come over as they said we have contaminated the crime scene by touching everything (we were looking through all our stuff if we had more stuff missing) but we insisted that they come anyway.
The next day, an IO visited our flat and for the rest of the days the IO seemed to focus on me and constantly messaged and called me, all of which I have answered, thinking I would best cooperate as much as I could. Until one afternoon he asked me to drop by the station and there he said from being a victim I am now a suspect. He spent more than an hour forcing me to admit to the crime and threatened that he could throw me in lock-up and interrogate me more the next day. He even ask me if I would be willing to do a polygraph test to which I answered yet but also asked if I should already have a lawyer. Then he asked, why am I getting one, I'm not even being charged yet. Then after, he said he "accepts my explanation for now" and that I am ok to leave but warned me that "I am still a suspect" and for me to still be around when he needs me. He has been aware that I will be leaving the country for good.
I am Filipino (all of us in the flat are), with a good career and no priors whatsoever. I used to serve as a nun when I was young, for crying out loud. But because I have had financial problems concerning my family back home (medical) which started a few months back, I was the "most likely suspect" as they said. I did not do it. To be honest, I also can't get myself to think that my flatmate or her guest did it, as it really could have been anyone because have been very careless about locking our door, etc.
I was forced to get a lawyer after that incident because I was afraid that he would hold me and confiscate my passport. I was scheduled to leave end of this month for a new job in another country. During our initial talk with the lawyer, he has promised to settle it and make it disappear for me to clear my name before I leave the country to the tune of $4,000. I initially did not have that amount but we were willing to raise it with the help of family and friends.
Until now though, our lawyer has not drafted or anything yet and have told him not to pursue anymore and the keep the deposit that we have given him since we have had contact and discussions already. Reason is I will be leaving in less than a week and would like to just focus on moving forward and to be very honest, $4,000 is something I don't have, more so to spend on legal fees which I shouldn't need to begin with.
Very sorry for the long post but my question is, given that there are no charges, I am not on bail, I have not heard from the IO for weeks after that interview/interrogation and I am leaving in a few days, is this a wise decision? Is there anyway that the IO can submit his report, for me to have a charge and for them to ask me to return to Singapore to face them? Or is it possible for them to go ahead and blacklist me anyway?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Also, if you have questions or if anything is not clear, please do ask and I would be happy to answer them to help clarify.
Thank you so much.
- they'll never actually find the real thief
