“Is it strange driving in Japan?” I asked because she seemed so confident with it.
“Not really. I got used to it pretty quickly. The signs are in English as well as Japanese. That’s a huge help. Although, the danger signs aren’t, which is strange. If I see a yellow triangle,I avoid it.”
“Best way.”
My phone buzzed from the passenger door compartment; it was Paula. The thing about Paula was, if I ignored her, she would continue to ring. If I ignored her more than three times, she’d be on the next flight to Tokyo to scold me in person.
“I have totake this.”
“Of course.” Brooke smiled.
“Hi, Paula.”
“Holly! Thank god you answered. I have an update on the Wilde case.” She sounded frantic.
“Okay, what’s going on?” I didn’t like the soundof her tone.
“The assailant’s appointed lawyer has come back claiming it was self-defence. They’re bumping up the first hearing at the magistrates’ tonext week.”
“Next week, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not even in the country! Can we push for an adjournment?”
“I spoke with Mr. West, he doesn’t think we have the grounds to do so.” When Mr. West had an opinion on something, he was normally right.
“Okay...” Think Holly, think. “You attend court with another lawyer; take Brownstone. He owes me a favour. Once you get there, immediately seekto adjourn.”
“On what grounds?”Paula asks.
“In order to obtain further evidence. If we do that, we can agree on a later date when I’ll be backin the UK.”
“Okay, but it’s Judge Baron. She knows you. She knows your tricks.”
“Shit!”
Judge Baron was a tough old cookie. She was in her early sixties. She was ruthless, and she knew every trick in the book. I’d tried to battle with her on numerous occasions to no avail, losing your clients case in front of Baron was a disaster for everyone; her sentences were worse than most.
“Do you think it’ll go to the crown court?”Paula asked.
“I don’t think so; we have two witness testimonies, CCTV footage of the brawl, X-rays, and pictures of Mr. Wilde directly after the assault, them pleading self-defence is barbaric.” Mr. Wilde was viciously attacked for his watch and wallet after a night out with friends. He suffered a fracture of the orbital bone cavity in his eye as well as a skull fracture resulting in three operations and severe scarring.
The assailant claims he was acting in self-defence, but numerous suspects saw him attacking Mr. Wilde unprovoked. The evidence mounted to a quick win, but law was more complicated than that. The assailant then claimed he was sexually assaulted by Mr. Wilde at the urinal, and when they exited the pub he was overcome with emotion and attacked him.
“Did you manage to speak to the witness regarding the alleged sexual assault?” I rubbed at my forehead; I was off the clock, butnever truly.
“No, they declinedto comment.”
“Brilliant.” I inhaled deeply. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I need you to go back through the evidence. The facts aren’t compelling enough on their own. If they go with the sexual assault plea that gives them a solid argument; he won’t get off scot-free, but it throws the whole testimony under scrutiny. Mr. Wilde frequents The Tavern often. I want you to get witness testimony from anyone that’s ever shared a urinal with him. There must be several locals that would be willing to give character evidence.”
What else—
“We can’t alter the facts, but we can steer them in a different direction. Look at the defence files and see who the assailant went to school with. See who he works with. Is there any sign of sexual assault in his background? Any false allegations? Any rumours about him being gay? I understand he’s married with a wife and child. If he has so much as sniffed another man’s aftershave inappropriately I want to know about it.” I paused, trying to recall all the factsof the case.
“If we go with the narrative that the assailant has a history of homosexual behaviour and in turn he is the one that instigated the contact in the urinal, we can claim Mr. Wilde backed away, he left swiftly, and the assailant’s ego was bruised, so he followed him into the parking lot and beat the crap out of him and tried to make it look like a mugging by taking his watchand wallet.”
“That’s good. I like that.” I could hear Paula tapping away on her laptop keys at the other end. “Aren’t we admitting to some activity in the urinal then? Mr. Wilde claims there was no such assault, and he barely even remembers this man being in the toilet,” Paulaquestioned.
“If that’s the case, what is the motive? As far as I’m aware the assailant has nothing but a petty theft and a few speeding fines on his record. He’s not well-off, but he’s not struggling, so there was no real need to steal his wallet and his watch. He’s a family man with no previous history of violence.” When I said it out loud it made the case so much more complex. A case was never as straightforward as I thought it was going to be. Even when I believed wholeheartedly someone was telling the truth, proving it was the hard part.
“What was his motive? Not the picture we’re creating, but the actual motive,”Paula asked.
