Chapter 164: Chapter 164
The court hearing what Rodney had to say about the behaviour of Nancy started murmuring and Campbell's lawyer looked towards the jury and found that the women amongst them were frowning.
He had wanted to ask him to tell them what happened on the night Nancy was abducted but he knew that the picture he would paint would be such that the case would be lost even before it began.
'No more questions Your Honour'.
As Richmond made as though to climb down from the witness box, his lawyer spoke.
'Just a minute, Mr. Richmond'.
Rodney waited. He and his lawyer had rehearsed what he had to say but since Campbell's lawyer didn't ask the question they were waiting for, his lawyer decided to ask it.
'You have been accused of abducting a young pregnant lady on the night of December 28th. Can you really tell us what happened on that day?'
'Yes, if you please'. He said looking really sad.
'I had visited my friend Maze like I said and we had decided to go to the Affluent Bar for some drinks.
Afterwards, we decided to go to my lodge. That lodge is my personal property. I do not like always going to places that are too public.
We went there because, well Maze was tipsy and there was a particular document I needed to give to him before leaving the next day.
All my family members were expecting me back next day but I hadn't realised in my preoccupation that we were being followed.
It was when we got to the lodge that I was attacked. The police who found me later could attest to the fact that I was incapacitated'.
'Alright Richmond. You want us to believe that you and a hunk like Maze were attacked?'
'Yes'.
'Who was the attacker?'
'More like who were the attackers. They were none other than Campbell and his fiancee Nancy Jones'.
'So a pregnant woman and a known gentleman attacked a fellow gentleman and his friend in his lodge?'
'Yes, that is about it. Remember Maze was tipsy and was not really in control of his faculties and reflexes and he fell unconscious not long after'.
'Why do you think that they attacked you?'
'Well I wouldn't know but being in custody for a crime I did not commit, I have had time to consider that question and I came up with the deduction that Campbell must have been trying to avenge the supposed wrong I had done her by getting her pregnant and abandoning her, the same story she had been throwing around'.
'But if that is the case, how did she end up with a bullet wound on the head?'
Maze regain consciousness and pulled a gun out to defend us both. He though he would scare them with his gun but Campbell got out his own gun and shot into the air, I was lying down very weak but as he shot at Maze, Maze shot back in self defense because the bullet caught him on the arm, the bullet from Maze's gun grazed Campbell's arm and passed on to lodge in Nancy's head and that was when the pice arrived and we were all rounded off. I didn't know of all these because I was unconscious but Maze confessed it all to me later'.
'Objection, My Lord, the defendant is making his statements based on hearsay' the plaintiff's lawyer said.
'Objection sustained!' the judge said. 'The court shall disregard that testimony since the witness was not an eyewitness to it'.
But the harm had already been done and the defence attorney knew it. It had been his plan all along.
The lawyer allowed all Rodney had said to sink in as he remained silent shaking his head in dismay, all for effect. Then he said, 'You may get down from the box, Mr.Richmond, no more questions.
The judge called for a break.
The court will recess . We should all meet here by Two pm.
Campbell told his lawyer that all Richmond had said we're all false and the lawyer said that he knew but that the court considered evidence alone and not mere emotions.
Jason knew that no gun shot had hit Maze and when he had been apprehended, there had been no such injury. Then how did he get it. It all made their false testimony sound credible. Jason was beginning to know what Richmond's wife and her affluent family could do.
He wished that Nancy was strong enough to stand in court and present her case but then again, this criminal attorney could twist her words and turn them against her. She was naive and may not know how cruel these people could be. He was only begining to realise it himself.
His lawyer had told him that Rodney's lawyer was very cunning but very good. He could use any means to get his clients acquitted. That was why most criminals especially those who could afford him, consulted him because they knew that he would deliver.
At two, the court reconvened.
His lawyer had told Jason that he would be inviting the inspector to take the stand.
'Your honour, I am calling Inspector Fibberson to the witness stand.
The defense attorney had not expected that to happen so soon but he guessed that he should have expected it since they had fewer witness whereas he could manufacture witnesses at will to help his cause or his client in this case.
'Inspector, could you tell us when you were first introduced to this case?' Mr. Hoberman, Jason's attorney asked the inspector after he had taken the oath.
'Mr.Campbell came to me in the morning of the 29th and told me that Miss Nancy, a lady he had under his protection had been kidnapped'.
'On the morning of the 29th?' the lawyer asked for emphasis.
'Yes on the 29th. It is all documented because we asked for his statement which he gave'.
'The 29th meaning a day after the abduction' Hoberman said.
'Alright, how did he explain what happened to you?'
'Well that Miss Nancy had gone out on a date with a young man called Alfred and on their way home, she had been abducted when the young man tried to open the passenger door to her. Alfred had been roughly pushed and Nancy dragged and shoved into a waiting car. Mr. Campbell had tried to follow the car and Alfred too quickly recovered and followed in his own car but the lost the car because it was switched which gave us the idea that the abductor had help'.
'When did you eventually catch them?'
'On the thirtieth. We had got a call but it was tampered with so we went to the wrong lodge but later, happened to come to the right lodge, because we had been visiting lodges and hotels, knowing that the abductors would not just leave the city immediately.
'What did you find out when you got there?'
'There was shooting. The big man, I layer realised was Maze was shooting at Campbell and Nancy. They had no guns with which to fight back and were hiding behind a huge rock beside the lodge. Campbell got a gunshot on his arms and shoulder and was bleeding.
Nancy seeing this called out to us to come to his aid but that was when the shot rang out and the bullet logged in her brain.
Campbell, nearly passing out, managed to guide her into the ambulance we called and collapsed on the way to the hospital because he had lost alot of blood'.
'Thank you, inspector, your witness', Hoberman said to Cobberson, the defense attorney.
He jumped to his feet.
'Inspector, you were told that Nancy went out on a date with Alfred, she could have gone out on a date with Campbell, couldn't she?'
'Well?'
'You are just saying what you had been told and things written in statements can be lies, couldn't they?'
'Well...'
'A simple yes or no would suffice'
'Yes'.
'So, why did he not report the abduction' that same day?'
'Well it was a date and dates take place at night and pursuing the abductor, he thought he would catch up with him and rescue the lady'.
'What was he doing there when a man had supposedly taken a woman out on a date?'
'He was scared of what could happen. Mr. Richmond had threatened Nancy and he wanted to be sure that she would get home safe'.
'Or he could have orchestrated the whole affair so that he could look like a hero, or it could be a plot to implicate my client and they all were in it together!'
'Objection, my Lord!'
'Objection sustained!' But he was done with his questions.
'No more questions Your Honour'.
He sat looking disgustedly at the inspector and his learned colleague as though he could not believe they could stoop that low.
'We shall meet again tomorrow at nine, both attorneys should get their witnesses ready by then.