Question that you may be able to answer :
I have just left prison after a delightful 17 days in a Antwerp jail and of course have the attest which states van zijn vrijheid beroofd………
Do i have a right for compensation ?
Am non resident in Belgium, a court case was held in Feb., 2010 and i was sentenced to 3 years, two probation and one year effective.
Unfortuantley i never received the letters for the court hearing (explanation later), so was totally unaware of the ruling.
Have been stopped a couple of times at customs but always released because they said they had the wrong man. The last time however they explained that i was signed on their computer but when contacting the correct authorities told to release me…….. strange….. country of origin Belgium.
So I walked into a Antwerp Police station to ask why and was transported to prison within hours. It took two days to find out why, as every one was answering my question with ‘you know why you are here’.
Cause and effect : Although having the sentenced reduced to two years non effective, I of course have a criminal record, one which I was unaware of and by default have worked in the UK without stating that I had a criminal record. This is a very serious crime in the uk and can be judged with a prison sentence of up to 3 years. So what do I do now !!!!
Explanation later : It’s all about the money ! In September 2009, in a very emotional state I walked into a Antwerp police office and in broken Dutch explained that I had tried to murder my girlfriend with whom I had had a relationship for 10 years. After 6 to 7 days of not being allowed to sleep I had grabbed her by the neck and then realised what I was doing so stopped. The following morning she refused having any medical examination, being a man i was afraid that i had damaged her, thus went to the police to get them to take her to hospital……. She refused the police, refused to make a statement or complaint and I was taken to see a judge who said that I was not to see her for three months.
End of story erhhhhh nooo ! My partner had a history of psychosis she had been committed more then once into mental institutions.
Less then a week later the same police office telephoned me and requested me to pick up my partner. They were concerned with the damage she had done to their police cars and who was going to pay for this. When at the police station I informed them that I was unable to have contact with her, their reply was ooops. I was then in a bad condition, being a pacifist and spending the best years of my youth during the feminist revolution of the 70’s, I had now in my mind become a monster the type of person I hated the most. So I was staring at my hands and informing them that not only could i not pick her up, was i not dangerous ? perhaps the most dangerous person in the world ?
Result : She was yet again committed to a mental institution and two policemen escorted me to see a psychiatrist. After talking to the psychiatrist was then told by the policemen that i was free to go.
One would think that was the end of the story, I stayed well away because I thought I had crossed a bridge into no mans land, I had no focus and tried to commit suicide within one year. In total it took 3.5 years to get over this. And my ex partner ? Well she placed a complaint against me, she wanted 5000 euro moral damage and 3000 physical damage. The judged ruled (because I was not present) for 1 euro moral and 500 euro physical and 3 years one of which was effective for poging tot doodslag.
I now wonder how it is possible that the same police station never saw the condition I was in, never concluded that my statement was influenced by my mental and physical condition (I was physically shaking for more more then 12 months).
It is not easy living with a person who has a very serious drinking problem, hence the psychosis. There is no help for you as partner, even after I landed up in hospital a year later after trying to commit suicide, no social worker came to visit........ I had slipped through the net. Perhaps I should have left my partner sooner, but if she did not eat then things got very bad, so I used to make sure that she eat and perhaps that’s why I felt responsible.
I never received the court case invitation, because I was running, how could i go back to family and friends when I felt that I was dangerous, how could i expose them to a monster. So I travelled, worked a few months here and there well mainly uk, i lost my company because of lack of focus etc., Also I was receiving lots of sms, voicemails and email from my ex partner. I never responded to any of them and luckily they stopped about 1 year ago.
But what happens now? If I go back to the uk i can be arrested for fraud and if i stay i will need to find a job and soon, as i am 57 that is no easy task! Any ideas would be welcome.