Dada 144

After making this pronouncement he asked Mo to give a full account of our doings on the day when I had forced myself upon him and we had intercourse. Mo would not answer at first but the prosecutor insisted. He then he told Mo that only by agreeing to the proceedings before the Magistrate could he be helped. Mo said that we had met the second time at the public baths, gone together to the pictures and then back to my Dada’s house. The prosecutor then informed the court that as a result of certain statements made by Mo before the magistrate, he had then taken this opportunity of acting as a witness for the prosecution. Turning to Mo, he asked slowly and carefully, how many times did the prisoner use the knife on the tourists. ‘Once, twice and three times sir’ Mo whispered. ‘Once and twice for the first man and three times for the second;’ Mo nodded. The prosecutor then took the jury through the events that had unfolded that night at the waterfront. ‘Was it then, you realised things had gone too far and that you must give evidence against this man’ the prosecutor asked Mo nodded Looking very grave the prosecutor drew his small frame up to his full height as if standing on a stone and with his robes around him stated. ’ Gentle souls of the jury I would have you know that this man who stands before you in the dock is a criminal of the highest order and sentence of the highest order should be placed against him. That is all I wish to say’ When he finished, the courtroom was so still you could have heard a pin drop He sat down to the same dead silence. Then all of a sudden Mo burst into tears. He’d got it all wrong he said. It wasn’t like that really. The law had bullied him into saying what the opposite of want he meant to say was. He knew me well and he knew in my heart I was a gentle character. At a sign from the presiding judge, one of the court ushers led him away. The hearing continued. The prosecutor was not finished. He jumped to his feet and again draped his gown around him and said he was amazed at the disingenuous way the defence had been taken in by these so called friends of the defendants.