On Trial – Episode 3

On Trial – Episode 3

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

‘I consider this a betrayal,’ Kaira told her best friend Erhuvwun ‘Erhus’ Edemirukaye over the phone.

Kaira had first met Erhus at FGC Enugu. His father at the time was a Lt Colonel attached to the 82 Division. They had both also attended the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife. And then Erhus had relocated to Warri after service while Kaira proceeded to Lagos for Law School, Ilorin for her National Youth Service Corp Scheme and then back to Lagos again where she had employed at the Ministry of Justice. Her family resided in Trans Ekulu, Enugu but after a several years in Lagos, Kaira had relocated to Port Harcourt.

Kaira and Erhus were so close that people wondered why they weren’t married to each other, while others who knew them speculated that they had both stayed single because of their closeness. She couldn’t believe she had once quarrelled with him over a man she had been dating at the time and whom she had been certain was Mr Right. Well, Mr Right had turned out to be Mr Absolutely-Wrong. She didn’t even want to think of that man who had shattered her heart into so many pieces.

Erhus was special. He had been there for her, helping her to pick up the pieces of her life despite the terrible things she had said to him before they had parted ways and she had refused to stay in touch in order to please Mr Bad-Rubbish. He was loyal to a fault and very trustworthy, the keeper of her deepest and darkest secrets.

People always said you couldn’t enjoy a platonic friendship with a member of the opposite sex but her relationship with Erhus had proved that theory wrong. Theirs was the kind of friendship that gave you peace of mind. He was the man you had as a friend for life and didn’t let other emotions complicate the issue and ruin the relationship.

Back to the subject at hand, when Aunty Wunmi had informed her about the case pending in Port Harcourt she had been elated about working closely with the prosecution to put the man in question behind bars forever so that the Prosecutrix wouldn’t spend the rest of her days looking over her shoulders and wondering if she was going to be attacked once more. And then Aunty Wunmi had hit her with the blow: she wouldn’t be working with the prosecution. This time she would be the defence counsel.

At first, she had thought Aunty Wunmi was pulling her legs. She had to. After all, a few glasses of champagne couldn’t have messed with the head of the strongest woman she knew. There was no way Aunty Wunmi, the same woman who had worked with her behind the scene on all the rape cases she had prosecuted and was still prosecuting, would be asking her to consider representing a man charged for the offence of rape.

But she had!

And she had meant it.

‘I need you to consider it,’ Wunmi had said. ‘You’re not compelled to accept his brief but I think you should do it. You’ve been on the side of the prosecution long enough to know how what to look out for in the defence. You’re what he needs.’

‘We are talking about rape, Aunty Wunmi,’ she had reminded the older woman. ‘Not any other offence. Rape!’

‘I know,’ Wunmi had smiled. ‘I have only taken two glasses of champagne so I’m still lucid.’

‘I help put rapists away.’

‘And you have been doing an amazing job. You still have pending rape cases and appeals you’re prosecuting, but working for once on the side of the defence is not going to suddenly make you a bad person.’

Wasn’t it?

‘From what I have heard about him, Mr Quadri can afford the services of any counsel he wants including a team of SANs. I shouldn’t be asked to do this.’

‘I make this request because I believe strongly in your abilities. My other reason for so doing shall be revealed in due time. Like I said earlier, you are not being compelled, but it is something you should do if you’ve thought very well about it. And it is not about the money.’

Kaira was still protesting when Wunmi had added:

‘He came to me because he had been informed that I could get you to represent him. He specifically asked of you. And I told him you were good enough to give him the best representation. I gave him your office address. So you should be expecting to run into him when you get back to Port Harcourt.’

What were the grounds for disowning one’s mentor? She had asked herself. Did betrayal of this kind qualify as one?

Kaira had returned to Port Harcourt on Thursday and Koje Quadri had come looking for her the next day at her office along Stadium road. She had rented a two bedroom apartment and converted it to a law firm, engaging three younger counsel to work with her. The oldest of them Rashidat Bashir was currently her Head of Chambers. Koje could easily have spoken with Rashidat but the man was insistent on speaking with Kaira.

This morning, Kaira had run into Koje at the High Court. Mere coincidence? She didn’t think so. You can’t accuse her of being paranoid because she strongly believed that she was being stalked by a man whom the court had no business granting bail. Had it been a different judge, she would have been convinced that he had been granted bail simply because he was wealthy.

He had been charged to court 6 months earlier for the offences of rape and assault. The counsel representing him had recently passed on and now, this man wanted her, a female, to accept be his counsel and ensure that he was out on the streets, a free man and free to rape more females! Recommendation or not, what kind of person did he take her for?

He was a young business man. His financial status meant that a lot of persons within and outside Port Harcourt were interested in his case. She had read about the arrest in the papers but hadn’t been opportune to witness the proceedings because of her own busy schedule. She had been rooting for the prosecution to win so that another damned rapist would be locked behind bars. They were the vilest of persons and so many of them got away because the victims were either too scared to complain or afraid of being stigmatised.

She was interested in the outcome of his case not as a counsel but as a female who wanted justice for a co-female. If it were left to her, she would have loved for the man to go away for a very long time.

Wunmi knew that Kaira put in her best in every case she handled irrespective of how much she was being paid for it. If she accepted Koje Quadri’s case, she would be compelled to represent him with the same vigour she used when prosecuting rape cases and he would most likely gain his freedom!

Rape!

That was the worst thing a man could do to a female and she knew that for a fact. So no one should expect her to be sympathetic towards Koje.

Okay, so the Constitution provided that an accused person is presumed innocent until proved guilty but Kaira had the feeling from the first time she had heard about the case that Koje was guilty of the offence for which he was being tried. He probably would have gotten away with a lighter sentence if he had simply taken a plea of guilty. Convicting a rich man like him, just as Chief had been convicted, would set a good example for other wealthy men who thought they could get away with anything simply because they had money. After all, money talked and bullshit worked, wasn’t that the popular saying?

He had asked her to represent him and she had told him no. So why was he still bothering her? There were lots of senior lawyers and Senior Advocates of Nigeria in Port Harcourt who would accept his brief. Her refusal should have sent him to any one of them but he was insisting on her.

What was he trying to prove by insisting on the services of a female lawyer? To shove it into the face of the victim that he had paid another woman to grill her in court and secure his release? How on earth could she represent a man she was convinced should be behind bars? Geez, by virtue of the Rules of Professional Conduct, she couldn’t be his counsel and consciously work against him!

Kaira was in no doubt as to her capabilities as a female counsel. She had learned from her association with the best minds in the legal profession. But only a female who was either related to him or sexually affiliated/interested in him would want him to be a free man.

Kaira wasn’t being judgmental. She had handled several criminal cases and she had never been more convinced of a man’s guilt as she was of Koje’s, despite having never met the good looking man until recently. She had seen his photographs and in them he had looked unapologetic. If anything he had looked proud, like he had the whole world in his pocket. He looked nothing like a man who could be going away for a very long time if convicted. Her being certain of his guilt definitely had nothing to do with her being a female.

To be continued

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