CHEATED WIFE 'FIXES' HUSBAND'S LOVER
I WANT HER OUT OF MY LIFE FOR GOOD
SHE DIGS OUT DIRT ON WOMAN, THEN REPORTS HER TO ICA TO GET HER DEPORTED
By Cara Van Miriah
October 16, 2006
WHAT would you do if you suspect that your partner is cheating on you with a foreigner?
First, get angry, then get even.
That is what some housewives here did.
Picture: Jonathan Choo
Their tactic?
Gather evidence of possible misdeeds by the lovers and then report them to the authorities so that they are deported from Singapore.
One 37-year-old housewife, Catherine, did just that. She did not want to give her real name to protect her children.
After her husband's mistress from China ruined her 11-year marriage and racked up a five-figure sum on his credit cards, Catherine wasn't about to let the other woman get away.
So she tailed the lover and eventually found out that she was in Singapore on a student pass and working here illegally.
She reported the 34-year-old woman to the Immigration and Customs Authority (ICA). The woman was deported and barred from re-entering Singapore.
Hers is not an isolated case.
Some private investigators (PIs) said this initiative by the first wives' club is catching on among some Singapore women who would go to great lengths to nail the husband's lover.
WORKING ILLEGALLY
Last year, Catherine found out from her husband that he had met his mistress, Ms Wang, when she was moonlighting as a masseuse at Tanjong Pagar Plaza.
The mother of two also found a supplementary credit card application, which had Ms Wang's passport number, and a student pass in her husband's briefcase.
With the documents, Catherine went to a Meet-The-People session early this year to seek help from Mr Eric Low Siak Meng, adviser to Hougang's grassroots organisations. (See report above.)
In April, she conducted a student pass validity check on ICA's website to see if the woman was still in Singapore. The expiry date of Ms Wang's student pass was 25 Apr 2006.
She said: 'I didn't want to take any chances in case she tries to contact my husband again. Though the affair had ended, I wanted this home-wrecker out of my life permanently.'
Catherine then wrote to the ICA on 5 May to lodge a complaint against Ms Wang for wrecking her marriage and working illegally as a masseuse.
'I wasn't sure if my efforts would go to waste,' she said. 'But I had to expose this woman and hopefully, she gets what she deserves.'
Two weeks later, she said an ICA officer informed her that the case was under investigation and that Ms Wang's student visa was expiring soon.
The reply put Catherine at ease.
But her husband's late nights out fuelled her suspicions that they could still be in contact.
'I called her on 10 Jul,' recalled Catherine. 'I was shocked and horrified when she answered the phone. She even had the nerve to scold me for calling her.'
A week later, on 17 Jul, Catherine sent another e-mail to inform ICA that Ms Wang was still in Singapore.
An ICA officer told Catherine that the case was still under investigation.
She said: 'Each time I took my kids to Paragon, I would look out for her because that was where she shopped and spent thousands of dollars with my husband's supplementary card. It was also where he took her for expensive meals.
'I couldn't help but look out for her each time I was there, because I've seen her passport photo. I was obsessed with her - even though my husband told me that he'd called it quits with her. I didn't tell him that I'd reported her to ICA.'
On 22 Sep, Catherine received a letter from ICA asking her to go for an interview and to provide a PI report to prove her case. 'Since I did not have a PI report, I took the credit card statements of her purchases as proof of her association with my husband.' On 7 Oct, she received a confirmation letter from ICA about the deportation as a result of the woman's illegal activities.
Catherine said: 'I finally found closure. It was the happiest day of my life knowing she got what she deserved.'
In another case, a woman, who wanted to be known as Madam Chia, foiled her husband's plan to sponsor his mistress' studies in Singapore three years ago.
She told The New Paper on Sunday: 'When I wrote to the ICA, I attached the love letters written by my husband to his mistress, along with their intimate pictures. I didn't get a response from the authorities.
'But during a heated argument with my husband, he told me that his mistress had been barred from entering Singapore.'
And some wives turn to PIs for help.
Investigator S M Jegan, 51, of Kokusai Security, handles extra-marital cases involving student-mistresses from China.
He told The New Paper on Sunday: 'Some women hire PIs because they want the mistresses to pay for their deeds.
'After we've taken pictures of the adulterous couples, the wives send the reports and pictures to ICA - in the hope of getting the women deported.'
Mr Jegan said a few clients succeeded in their mission. Many student-mistresses were repatriated because they were working here illegally.
Mr Patrick Yeo of DP Investigators noted that the wives often know what they want to do.
He said: 'The obvious thing to do is take away the other woman's most valuable item - her immigration pass.'
However, that doesn't mean that the husband will not try to contact the mistress after that.
Mr Yeo said: 'One client was relieved to hear that the mistress was barred from entering Singapore. She was working illegally while on a social visit pass. Recently, she found out her husband had housed the mistress in Johor.'
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UNDESIRABLE FOREIGNERS WILL BE DEPORTED
CATHERINE didn't know who to turn to when she found out that her husband was having an affair.
So the housewife approached Mr Eric Low, 57, adviser to Hougang's grassroots organisations, for help early this year.
Mr Low told The New Paper on Sunday: 'My role is to help my residents if they come to me with their problems. In Catherine's case, I helped her to write a letter to the Immigration and Customs Authority (ICA) based on what she'd told me. It's up to ICA to assess the case.'
Mr Low was unable to comment on the content of his letter to ICA as it was 'private and confidential'.
When contacted, a spokesman for ICA said it would not comment on the investigation of specific cases.
But she added: 'Appropriate action will be taken if there is conclusive evidence that a foreign pass holder is involved in illegal activities. Or if his or her presence in Singapore is undesirable.'
And those who try to enter Singapore illegally after they have been barred, face a maximum sentence of two years' jail and a $6,000 fine.
This year, more than 1,000 foreigners banned from entering Singapore were caught at the checkpoints using false identities such as fake names, passports and particulars, reported The Straits Times.
They were detected by ICA's biometric database which was installed last June. It stores photographs, fingerprints and personal details of 146,000 foreigners who had been repatriated for offences here.
