On trial episode 2

On Trial – Episode 2
© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu
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Admiralty Way
Lekki Phase 1
Lagos
Wumni Adesina celebrated with Kaira but the latter could tell that her mentor had something on her mind. Wunmi was in her early-sixties and Kaira had known her since her chamber attachment days in Lagos when she had been attached to the firm of Adesina, Robinson and Al-Rahman. The three partners were Senior Advocates of Nigeria and the firm was a large one with offices in Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Abuja.
Kaira had chosen a career at the Ministry of Justice, spending six years working directly with the Director of Public Prosecutions to put criminals out of the way. Esther’s case was the first case she had taken once she had left the Ministry and ventured on her own. A lot of cases had come since she accepted Esther’s brief, mostly civil, but she still got a fiat from the Attorney General to prosecute rape cases. So far, she had prosecuted eight rape cases, with a few of them running consecutively. Three hadn’t made it beyond the High Court. Two were presently being heard at the Court of Appeal and one had recently been dismissed at the court of appeal in favour of her client and it had been three months with no notice of appeal being served on her.
She had made a niche for herself as a great civil litigator and a private prosecutor for rape matters and the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) had been so helpful.
‘You will go places my dear,’ Wunmi told Kaira proudly. ‘The sky is only just one of the steps on the ladder of your success.’
They’d just had a dinner of amala with gbegiri and ewedu which was Kaira’s favourite Yoruba food and a meal she had fallen in love with during the years spent in Lagos; just as she had fallen in love with atama soup after tasting it at the Christian Law Students’ Conference held in Calabar several years ago.
‘ Ese gan Ma for your constant encouragement and mentorsh¡p.’
At 53, Wunmi was an elegant woman. She was of average height and a bit on the plump side but she wasn’t interested in watching her weight lest she loose her curves, she had told Kaira once. She carried herself with dignity and was well respected. She was a life member of the Body of Benchers and a lot of female lawyers saw her as a role model. She was a force to be reckoned with in the legal profession despite her small frame. She had been awarded the rank of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria at the age of 40 and exactly 15 years at the Bar. She had also received several humanitarian awards and was a staunch member of FIDA Lagos. Kaira wanted to be like her!
‘Be prepared to take up more and more cases on the subject in the years to come. Having effectively represented Esther despite the perceived hopelessness of her case, you have given women a voice and a lot of women would be coming out and demanding justice from their attackers. It’s so unfortunate that we live in a society that blames women for the assault on them. Most people justify the act of the rapist by claiming that the woman either provoked him or dressed in a manner that tempted the man to rape her. Can you imagine such rubbish?’
‘Victims of rape are constantly stigmatised,’ Kaira said on a daily basis and that’s why it is so difficult getting them to talk about their experience. I know what it took for Sule to get Chief’s other victims to speak up. And I don’t think they were the only ones. The fear of being stigmatised has kept these women silent and in the long run that singular act of rape affects their relationsh¡p with others and the rest of their lives, most times, without them even realising it.’
Wunmi gave Kaira a look the younger woman couldn’t decipher, over the rim of her glass as they shared a bottle of champagne. Kaira was spending the night in Wunmi’s home just as she did anytime she came into Lagos. Wunmi’s husband, Dayo Adesina, a professor of cardiology, was upstairs and had left the two women to do their own thing.
‘I completely agree with you and that’s why I have no doubt in my mind that you are the best person to handle this case I’m about to send your way. The subject matter is rape and assault and the accused person is a young, really good looking millionaire with the kind of physique you young women seek.’
Kaira’s mind immediately began to work. A good looking wealthy man! She had dealt with men like that, men who felt they could get away with anything simply because they were good looking. Men like that felt a woman should be honoured simply because they showed the slightest interest in her, and then when they forced themselves on a woman, she was expected to keep mute about it, say ‘thank you’ for deeming her fit to be the satisfier of their desires and then accept their gifts without a single protest!
A wealthy man was one thing but a wealthy man with good looks was dangerous. Corky men! People like that should be locked behind bars whenever they fell short of the law. They went around paying off or threatening their victims and if the matter did see the light of day, they proceeded to bribe witnesses or threaten them outrightly so they wouldn’t show up in court; or go to the extreme of bribing the prosecutor and trying to reach the judge to whom their cases were assigned! You’d look at them and feel they can’t hurt a fly while the men with the hærdened faces were immediately adjudged guilty because of their outward looks.
‘The case is in Port Harcourt,’ Wunmi continued. ‘And I would like you to consider it. You’re under no compulsion to accept, just think about it.’
Think about it, Kaira thought. What was there to think about? She lived for such cases.
‘Port Harcourt. That’s good.’
Wunmi smiled.
‘Have you heard of the case of State v Abayomrunkoje Quadri?’
‘Sounds familiar. Is that the case of where the accused person went after his former Personal Assistant and raped and assaulted her in her home?’
‘ Bẹẹ ni,’ Wunmi replied. ‘That’s the same case.’
‘I haven’t been following the case because I’m not directly involved in it but I heard somewhere that the defendant’s counsel passed on last month.’
‘Yes he did and has since been buried in accordance with the Islamic burial rites.’
‘The DPP is prosecuting that case.’
‘But your presence is needed for justice to prevail.’
Kaira figured that the prosecution needed her to utilise her experience in the case being handled by them. She would be glad to give them any assistance they needed. The case was pending before Hon Justice A. C. Oyolu. He had been a judge for about three years now and was a very bright mind. He was a man who stood for justice even as a regular lawyer and was a blessing to the judiciary.
She smiled as she thought about the judge whose court was like an extension of the FIDA Centre. The number of female lawyers who showed up every day in his court was overwhelming and sometimes there was barely space for litigants to sit. Kaira doubted if it was just the fact that he delivered intelligent rulings and judgments. It could have something to do with the fact that he was the youngest judge in terms of age and also very single in his mid-thirties.
He’d studied in the United Kingdom and had returned to Nigeria for his Bar Part I and II exams which he had scaled with flying colours. He had been a strong member of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch and twelve years into his practice, he had been appointed a judge at the ripe age of thirty-three.
There was no doubt in Kaira’s mind that Justice Oyolu could not be bought by Quadri’s money and if the prosecution succeeded in proving its case, Quadri would end up in jail for the rest of his life for sure!
‘Where do I come in?’ she asked.
Wunmi’s response literally dropped Kaira’s jaw to the floor.
TRANSLATIONS
Ese gan (Yoruba) – thank you very much
Bẹẹ ni (Yoruba) – yes
To be continued