On Trial – Episode 9

On Trial – Episode 9

© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

Kaira had a bath and dressed up in her purple pyjamas. She sat before her reading table, studying the case file. Quadri had insisted on stopping to buy food and because she wouldn’t come down from the car, he bought two plates of food in takeaway packs and juice.

The coconut rice tasted like heaven. She ate a spoonful and flipped through the file. She would attend to the large chicken wings later. Acquainting oneself with the contents of a file served the dual purpose of ensuring that the counsel was on her feet and saving the counsel from further embarrassment.

She had learned from her experience in the past. In her first month as a counsel appearing in court in Ilorin, she was once handed a file on behalf of the chamber she had been working in at the time and asked to go take a date as the counsel on the other side had called to say that his witness wouldn’t be in court. She was to announce her appearance and when the other counsel asked for an adjournment, she was to simply say she wasn’t objecting to the adjournment but would be asking for cost for the day’s proceedings. It was supposed to be that simple. She had been so excited to appear in court alone. But she was in for a surprise.

All counsel in the matter announced their appearance. The Plaintiffs’ counsel informed the court that he matter was slated for hearing and their witness was in court. Kaira had stared at the other counsel in surprise. She was appearing on behalf of the 1 Defendant. The counsel to the 2 Defendant informed the court that he had a motion to amend his statement of Defence. The judge asked if parties had been served. Kaira had felt that it was safe to say yes as she hadn’t even looked into her file. She said ‘yes’ and that was the most embarrassing part. The counsel for the 2 Defendant informed the court that he had only served the motion on the Plaintiffs and the 4 to 8 Defendants.

‘Miss Madukaife, it is obvious that you do not know the contents of your file,’ Hon Justice Z. D. Bello had said to her. ‘I shall advise you to come prepared anytime you are appear in my court.’

Kaira had been so embarrassed that she wished the ground had opened and swallowed her. But then you could never count on the ground to open up when you needed it to. If it were to open to during an earthquake to swallow up innocent people, the ground wouldn’t even wait for permission. Mschew!

The court was filled with lawyers and litigants. It didn’t help that the judge went into a lecture on how young lawyers never took the time to read through their file and ended up seeking the protection of the court for something they could have easily avoided. And yes, in his time, even if you were briefed right in court, you took the pains of going through the file and noting the processes in there.

Kaira had learned her lesson. Every file she personally handled had notes attached to it and that was a habit she had imbibed in the lawyers working with her.

Koje’s case was adjourned for continuation of the evidence in chief of PW5, a former employee at Koje’s nightclub. The Prosecutrix had been cross-examined and her case had remained solid. It was her case that she had left Koje’s employment because he had been sexually harassing her, getting her cornered whenever he could, trying to steal a kiss from her and telling her how much he wanted her in his bed. He had promised her wild nights of intense pleasure and satisfaction and a raise. She had resisted his charm because she was seeing someone else and he was also her employer. Yes, she had given in once in a while to her handsome employer’s kisses to preserve her job but she got tired and tendered her resignation and Koje had apologised for his actions. She had thought she had put the ugly incident behind her and that he had moved on, her mistake. She had seen him once in his club when she had gone clubbing with a friend, but beyond exchanging pleasantries for a full minute, she hadn’t stayed around him. And so she had been surprised to find him outside her apartment six months later. She hadn’t told him where she lived after she had moved from her previous apartment.

She had let him into her apartment because she had been under the impression that he didn’t hold any grudge against her and that he had actually been in the neighbourhood and had stopped to say hi when he saw her outside her apartment. In her apartment he had told her he regretted losing her as his personal assistant because she had been really effective. He had asked how her new employer was treating her, adding that he would like for them to start afresh. He had told her he was in love with her and really wanted her to give him a chance but she had informed him that she was seeing someone else and so couldn’t be with him. He’d gotten so angry that he had slapped her and called her a nobody who thought she was too good for him. And then he’d thrown her on the couch, ripped her clothes despite her protests and pleas, his palm covering her mouth to prevent her screams as he unzipped his trousers and proceeded to rape her.

She had given a complete account of the rape incident and ensuring that a wrong interpretation could not be given to her words. Sodomy could even be mistakenly implied and that did not amount to rape. Neither did the use of any object other than the man’s sex organ amount to rape, it was at best an indecent assault. Once there was any doubt in the case of the prosecution then it must be resolved in favour of the defendant.

Koje seemed to have come to his senses somewhere along the line. He had pulled out and hurriedly dressed up. He had tried to console her, saying he hadn’t meant to hurt her and that he didn’t know what had come over him. She had ignored him and folded herself into a foetal position, weeping. When he couldn’t get through to her he had left the apartment. She had dressed up and without washing off the traces of his abuse, had gone to the nearest police station to make a report. She was advised by a female police officer to go to a hospital where samples could be collected.

Under cross-examination, she was asked to describe Koje’s physique with specifics on whether or not he had any markings on his body, and if he did, where exactly. She had responded that she had never seen him without his clothes on. The most she had seen was him in a singlet and a pair of combat shorts. Also at the time of the rape, he had been fully dressed. He’d only unzipped his trouser to free his manhood. The defence counsel had also asked if she had any feelings for Koje while working with him, but her response had been that Koje was a very handsome man and working so closely with him hadn’t been easy but she was dating someone at the time and she would never have been tempted to cheat on her lover.

Laide’s evidence had spanned three court sittings. She had been pregnant at the time she had been giving evidence, and from her evidence, it was as a result of the rape. However, she had suffered a miscarriage right in court, blood flowing down her thighs while she was still in the witness box. She had been rushed to the hospital and the next date vacated to give her time to recover. Her evidence had continued a month later and she had informed the court that she had chosen to keep the baby because she couldn’t blame the innocent child for what had happened. Kaira was quite certain that the memory of the young woman suffering a miscarriage in open court would remain in the mind of the trial judge. Thank God Nigeria didn’t have a jury system. Perhaps, the sympathetic nature of her condition had been the reason why her predecessor hadn’t spent much time asking question.

Kaira sympathised with Laide on the loss of her pregnancy, but felt that a professional should have let go of emotional sentiments and done the needful. With several years’ experience as a prosecutor, Kaira knew the weak points in rape cases and how to attack them and that was part of what had helped her secure convictions. She had been able to cover those loopholes and being on the other side of the divide, she would have been able to exploit those loopholes. The first thing the defence lawyer needed to do was to get a defence as this would determine the line of questioning. Questions to be asked when the defence was consent would definitely be different from what one would ask if the defence was that the defendant hadn’t touched the Prosecutrix at all. Kaira wasn’t sure where the counsel had been headed with his questions. He seemed to have applied the technique of what her people would call ‘ is agaro was aga’ meaning that if alternative A fails, try Alternative B.

The case of the Prosecutrix had been uncontroverted. She had wept throughout her evidence gaining the sympathy of the observers and Kaira could imagine the condemning looks Koje would have received while in the dock. The prosecutor had explained to the judge that the Prosecutrix was still traumatised by her experience.

The evidence of PW2, the Investigating Police Officer confirmed that the Prosecutrix had lodged a complaint at the police station and he had been detailed by the Divisional Police Officer to carry out the investigation. The Prosecutrix had been advised to go to the hospital so that samples could be taken from her which would aid the investigation. The defendant was arrested based on the confirmation from a lab assistant that the Prosecutrix had been raped. Kaira noted this for purposes of address.

There had been bruising along Laide’s genitals and semen also been retrieved. PW3 was the medical doctor who had carried out the examination on the Prosecutrix. While in police custody, Koje had been subjected to medical examination wherein semen sample was extracted from him for DNA Matching which was done by a forensic pathologist, a witness in this suit. PW3 was called simply to confirm that there was penetration as envisaged by the Criminal Court Code.

Pw4, Laide’s neighbour, Ifechiluru Okoroigwe, testified that she had been seen Koje around the premises. She had noticed him for two reasons: one, he was really good looking, and two, he kept looking over his shoulders like he was trying to avoid someone. During cross-examination, she said had never met him before then but he wasn’t the kind of man you would forget in a hurry. She had also been about 50 metres away and the light wasn’t so bright. Also, although she could recognise what the defendant had on, she hadn’t been able to tell whether or not he carried anything along with him. No, they hadn’t exchanged pleasantries.

PW5 was Sotari Alaibe, a former employee of Koje’s. Her testimony so far was that Laide had complained to her that she didn’t like the way and manner in which Koje was coming on to her and Sotari had added that she had once seen Koje and Laide in a compromising position but Koje had pretended as though he was taking something out of Laide’s hair.

Kaira wished she could have a bite at cross-examining PW1 to PW4 as there were questions her predecessor of blessed memory had not asked. But she couldn’t apply for the prosecution to recall its witnesses simply because she had just been engaged to defend the defendant.

The essence of cross-examination was to test the accuracy and credibility of the witness. And it was during the cross-examination that the party cross-examining is able to build on his case. Once he can discredit the witness of the opposing party, especially if he is for the defence, then his case is as good won. The Prosecutor had to succeed on the strength of its case and not in the weakness of the defence. And so far they were cruising to victory.

The Prosecutrix was the only witness to the night of the alleged rape. Her testimony had not been discredited and that was a problem, but like Wunmi had told her, no case was hopeless. She would have to look for loopholes in the evidence of the other witnesses. It was a good thing the DNA expert had not been examined-in-chief. She could go for putting doubts in the mind of the court that the samples were collected separately and not at the same time simply to ensure that the defendant went away for a very long time. Also, Laide may have given her evidence but Kaira could through the other witnesses and hers, establish that Laide had sex on the night in question but not with the defendant.

She read through Koje’s statement to the police at the time of his arrest. He had admitted to coming around Laide’s apartment. He had spoken to her but he had not raped her. The statement had been vague, leaving so many loopholes as though he was trying not to write anything that would implicate him. By being too careful, he was also creating problems for himself because he must of necessity fill in the blank spaces and would be confronted with the incomplete statement made to the police and signed by him.

This wasn’t going to be an easy case!

To be continued

ALL EPISODES

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