Narrow Escape – Episode 11

NARROW ESCAPE

Episode Eleven

 

Kofi Ansah: Captain so all this while that the police officers were in your house, where was you wife and what was she doing?

Captain Adjei: All my wife could do was to pace up and down at the porch screaming “He killed my boyfriend!!”, “He killed the son of the chief of defense staff”, “He is a murderer, I saw how he stabbed my boyfriend to death”, “he is a bloody murderer and monster”. This statement of hers got the attention of the journalists who were at the main gate of my house, I saw how some of them were busy with their pen and notepads trying to capture the exact words my wife was spewing out from her lying cheating mouth. As I was escorted to a waiting police land rover car, they didn’t move the car immediately as I was brought into the car so it gave the journalists the opportunity to take pictures of me as some tried to get me to talk with several questions that they were throwing at me from all angles. I kept mute and buried my face in my palms as I waited for me to be conveyed from that place. Some minutes later my prayer request was heard by God and I was taken away by the police officers straight to the police headquarters. On our way to the police headquarters, an announcement came through their communication device in the car and it was in connection to my case, at that moment I realised the matter had taken a different swift dimension and it had already escalated. The only witness at the time the confrontation that led to the death of the guy who was busily cheating on me with my wife had taken a bold stand against me, now my only hope and help was going to come from the Lord God I serve because how I was going to defend myself at the court was my greatest worry even though I had a great lawyer. In the loneliness of my predicament, I started praying in my head for divine intervention to locate me if not then the possibility of me been thrown into jail was hundred percent assured. We got to the police headquarters and I was immediately sent to the CID headquarters for interrogation even when my statement had not been written down, I told the CID who wanted to interrogate me that I knew my rights not only as a citizen of this country but I was also a service man so I required a little professionalism to be attached to my case. I told him I wanted my statement written before I would utter any word to anyone and that I needed my lawyer to be called in. My response to him didn’t go down well for him because he felt embarrassed right in front of his subordinates who were in the interrogation room with us. He fumed with anger and left the interrogation room slamming the door behind him, no one came to the room for close to an hour and I was left in my thoughts and reflecting on things that had already happened, my mind went from this thought to that thought as I sat in the interrogation room all alone.

Kofi Ansah: Sir you said this thought to that thought, what exactly were you referring to?

Captain Adjei: Kofi my mind went to the day I saw the deceased for the first time driving my wife’s car and she lied to me that he was a just a mechanic trying the car after servicing it. Again the thought of the pant I saw in my car letterbox and the used condom I saw at the back seat of my car all came flashing through my mind. My wife was a branded whore but because of her profession and demeanour you would never get to know who she truly was. The early advices my late father gave me when I was growing up all came to mind as he once said to me, “son when you are ready to settle down with a woman as a wife, don’t go in for beauty alone because a man who marries a beautiful wife has the same problem as a farmer who plants corn by the roadside”, every man who passes by will like to have something to do with your wife and if she is not from a good family or has no proper upbringing, she will jump from one man to another man. Again because of her flirting attitude, I realised why she was not so much bent on bringing forth a child because the pregnancy will only pin or slow her down with her treacherous lifestyle. As I was lost in my thoughts and my mind was tuned aback, I was brought back to myself with noises that was coming out from outside the interrogation room. The interrogation room door opened and to my greatest surprise, the person who opened the door was the CDS, I mean the father of the deceased youngman who was sleeping with my wife. I sat still in my chair not knowing whether to stand and pay compliment to my boss or sit down and listen to what brought him there? My brother if you saw the anger and rage in the man’s eyes, I am sure he could strangle my neck if not for the people around. He spoke in a very terrifying tone and said, “so it is you who has succeeded in making me childless in this world huh? You and that infidel of a wife lured my son to his early grave and I swear I will make you pay dearly for your crime. I will not ki*ll you right now but I will make you beg for death to come for you. I will make every passing second that comes your way pass with severe pains that you will never forget. I will chop your body, limb by limb and peel your skin off your flesh. I swear for making me childless I will take the word happiness from your life and you will know no peace in your miserable life. You will beg for death to come for your life but death will be faraway from you. You will sh*t and eat your own feces as a result of real hunger, youngman you can play with the brea$t of your mother but not that of your father’s testicles, you have dared the lion in his own den and wait for his action as to how he will devour you”.

Kofi Ansah: Captain so the CDS said all this words to you?

Captain Adjei: My brother I just quoted his words word to word for you. I remember everything that went on in that interrogation room like the matter happened just this afternoon. After this powerful words from him, he requested to see the IGP because he wanted the Army to take charge of this case meaning he wanted a court marshal to sit on my case and pass judgement even though my action was not related to work or any treasonous act. He stormed out of the interrogation room filled with a burning passion of anger, if there was anything I could describe him with, the only better thing that could describe him well was a volcano and he was eager to erupt and destory me for good at all cost because his reaction was far worse than the South Africa xenophobia attack. Later that night one DSP came into the interrogation room and said because I was a senior military officer, he wanted me to be treated well so first I was going to be handed with a form so I write down my statement after which I will be given a place to pass the night because there was no way I was going to be allowed to go back home that night. I wanted to tell him until my lawyer was in, I wasn’t ready to pen any statement down but I knew what he said was what the law stated so I decided to oblige and took the forms from him together with a pen. My brother I wanted to write but my hands were terribly shaking that I couldn’t even write a single sentence correct, he seeing what was going on offered to help me write my statement but first he wanted me to narrate everything to him so he knows where and how he could make my story good and presentable at the law court. I told him everything I knew about the deceased and my adulterous wife, how I was suspecting him of having an affair with my wife and then coming to meet him in my bedroom with my legally wedded wife making love on my own matrimonial bed. I went further to narrate how that guy attacked me with a penknife and how he was bent on murdering me but I managed to turn things around all for my good and out of self defense how he died through his own weapon he carried on him. The officer wrote my statement for me and requested I sign it so that the statement becomes a legal document. I signed it and he told me the next morning, my fingerprints will be taken from an officer from the forensic and homicide department where some investigations can be done to prove my innocence. I was then taken to a private cell and given a blanket to pass the night there. My brother that was one of the longest night I could ever remember in my life, hunger and thirst were so faraway from me because my body was in a cell inside the CID headquarters but my spirit was so far from me, after what I thought was years of waiting, the dark paved way for morning light to fill the world. Around 7am a female police officer came for me from my cell, handcuffed me for the first time and told me she was taking me to crime scene but before then they have to take some pictures of me. In my troubled state of mind, I obliged and stood where I was told to stand, it was after the people took the pictures before I realised they were journalists from some print media houses. The police lady officer told them that she will give them the story later so they should wait for her at the reception, I got furious and demanded answers for her action but she told me she was only taking orders from her superiors and that she wasn’t in the position to explain herself to me. I knew that moment how to appreciate and value freedom, I then told her that I wanted to talk to my lawyer first before if I will step out of their building. She told me that could only be done by her boss so if I didn’t want to go with her to the crime scene, she will put me back in the cell.

Kofi Ansah: Mmmm sorry to cut in Captain, but what was the lady’s rank if I may ask?

Captain Adjei: She was not wearing a uniform top but I think she was a sergeant because I flashed her in the uniform the second day I was been taken to court.

Kofi Ansah: So after your photograph was taken what happened?

Captain Adjei: I was taken back to the cell and a man next to the cell I was I spoke with me.

Kofi Ansah: A man next to your cell? Can you please throw more light on that statement for me.

Captain Adjei: The cell over there was a transparent one made with metal bars so you could see and interact with the people around you easily.

Kofi Ansah: Oh okay, I get you now, please continue.

Captain Adjei: Yes the man I later got to know that, he was an undercover journalist who also got to know of the coup d’ètat that was been planned by my senior rank officers. He came to raise an alarm to the IGP and he was been detained for trying to cause fear and panic to the state and that his information carried no substantial evidence. He got me into a lengthy conversation and I told him what also brought me to the place where we were and that was when he told me I made a mistake by allowing the police officer write my statement for me and not asking him to read it out to me before I sign it. He told me if my CDS came there and was threatening me then there was a way he could manuver his way out and let the statement that was written to change for it to look like I killed the youngman out of anger instead of self defense. His words dawned on me that I had made a fool out of myself and that I should have known better. As I was reflecting on what he had told me, the door was opened and some armed policemen came for the journalist. He asked where he was being taken to but none of the policemen uttered a word to him but rather they molested and bundled him out of the place. In the evening I heard in the news that the journalist had passed away as he tried to run from police custody, he was knocked down by a passing car. I felt so sad that night as no one bothered to even bring water to me in my cell. I slept on an empty stomach that night and thanks to my military training, I survived it even though there was a very loud protest and demonstration going on in my stomach. The following morning, I became so aggressive that I started to make noise and hit my hands on the metal bars so I could call for attention. The DSP who wrote my statement came in and asked why I was making so much noise and I told him I was thirsty and hungry at the same time because no one bothered to give me anything to consume the previous day. My statement got him so angry that he stormed out of the place and came back with the female officer, he asked why the lady didn’t see to it that I was fed and she claimed she forgot to do that. The DSP then ordered her to get me something to eat and drink immediately and apologised to me for that. He then told me that the forensic and homicide detectives were in but he will only let me see them after I had finished my meal that morning. When the food was brought to me, my brother, I ate like someone who had finished a long journey from the hot dessert. Well after the meal, I had to endure some stomach aches due to the long starving I was subjected to the previous day.

 

 

To be continued…

 

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