The Trial Of The Beast…

AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN

THE TRIAL OF THE BEAST

EPISODE 9

“Go on then,” Judge Kuntu said ominously. “Tell us your story, young man!”

Zak turned and looked at Faddah, and when he began to speak, his gaze never shifted. It was as if he was telling his story to the super-confident prosecutor.

“I met Gyamaan Afriyie for the first time at Sasam Secondary School,” Zak said, and then he smiled.

All eyes were riveted on him.

 

His smile was innocent, almost serene, full of warmth, and it transformed his handsome features into something exceptional, and for one moment it was really hard for anyone to believe he was the cold-blooded murderer on trial.

“She slapped me the first time I saw her!” he said, and rubbed his cheek ruefully. “Strangely, I fell in love with her. Ain’t that funny?”

He leaned forward slowly until his lips were almost touching the microphone, and his gentle voice soon filled the speakers around the courtroom.

 

“We grew up at the Sasam Orphanage, see, and it was not a very pleasant life. Most of the time we only ate rice and nothing else. Man, it got so bad that sometimes when we smelt the rice aroma from the kitchen most of us began to vomit rapidly, yes, we were tired of that food! Social Welfare was supposed to be responsible for the welfare of the inmates, but the Government aid that came was mostly inadequate.

 

The orphanage had to depend mostly on the donations of philanthropists. The dormitories were very crowded…at times sixteen inmates slept in a room meant for eight. It was terrible. Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about the hard life I went through, so I’ll concentrate on this rape thing. After primary school, most of the inmates of the orphanage who qualified for secondary school education had to depend on scholarships and donor funds.

 

Most of them went to Rapid Secondary School because the Headmaster was good; he offered bursaries to the inmates. However, most of us wanted to go to Sasam Secondary. The Headmistress did not want the orphanage inmates at the school, so there were no bursaries for us. She demanded cash, but since it was an expensive school, donors could not afford to sponsor us there. I mean, that school was where all the rich people sent their children, and they felt uncomfortable if kids from the orphanage also attended the school.

 

Anyway, after we completed primary school, only Kwadwo Pamfo was admitted at Sasam Secondary because he paid the admission fees himself. I didn’t want to attend any school apart from Sasam, so I began to work to get enough money to pay my fees. I thus stayed away from school for a whole year. Kwadwo loved to brag to us whenever he came back from school. He used to tell us that he had a new girlfriend called Gyamaan. He claimed she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Fact was, I had never liked Kwadwo because he was a bully, and a selfish one at that!

 

Anyway, after one year, I had enough money to pay the school fees for a year for myself and my best friends, Barima Addo and Ogum Kwabena. When I presented the money and our BECE results to the secondary school, they quickly gave us the entry forms and the prospectus. We paid our fees at the Cash Office, and we were so excited that we started fooling around as we left the office. My back was toward the door as I rushed out, and hwaang, I collided with somebody behind me. We fell down, and I found myself lying on top of the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was unimpressed, though, and her hand flew up, straight against my cheek!

 

‘Get off me!’ she said angrily. I jumped to my feet, rubbing my cheek. I apologised profusely, but she pushed me away angrily. Some students laughed at me, but I didn’t care. One boy sidled up to me and said ‘That’s Gyamaan, the Iron Lady…hope you enjoyed her special caress!’

 

Anyway, that was the first time I met her. Our second meeting was almost three weeks later. I and my two friends had not been given residential status at the school so we were day students. One Friday we were going home – and we were shadow boxing and fooling as usual – when this classic car came to a stop beside us. Man, you should’ve seen that car! It was huge, sleek and so radical!

 

Man, that car was rude! I ogled it, drooling like a grandmamma rabid dog, wishing I could ride in a car like that. Suddenly the door flew open, and a face leaned out. It was her…Gyamaan. I took a step back, scared she might want to add more slaps to my face. She looked me in the eye and asked if she could give us a lift. We did not need a second invitation; we flew into the car.

 

She apologised for hitting me the other time; said she was under a great pressure then. I forgave her. I told her we were headed for the orphanage, and she looked startled. That day I told her that my mother had brought me to the orphanage when I was a baby, and she had died the next day. She felt really sorry for me, and she touched my hand gently.

From that day our friendship grew. It turned out she had never spoken to Kwadwo, and that he had just been shooting his gab, as usual, lying to us that Gyamaan was his girlfriend. Of course, he was really jealous of me when he saw Gyamaan with me, but I didn’t give an Elephant’s tail about how he felt!

 

Anyway, Gyamaan spent a lot of time with me, although she was one year my senior. She gave me gifts and always shared her lunch with me. See, I hated mathematics, but she was a genius and used to teach me whenever I was seriously wrecked with my homework. For almost a year our friendship grew, but then, things were to change violently.

 

See, I had rented this room in town. It was just a modest chamber-and-hall apartment. For some reasons I no longer enjoyed staying at the orphanage, so most times I went to the rented room. Actually, Kwadwo Pamfo also had a room in the same building, just like other students who could not get boarding facilities. Well, one day Gyamaan and I were studying at the library.

 

She was teaching me maths as usual, and well, I was so overwhelmed with her. See, I was in love with her but had never told her, but that day I could not control it any longer. I took a piece of paper and wrote ‘I love you, my Black Princess. Please, will you marry me when we grow up?’ I passed it on to her. She read it, and when she looked at me there were tears in her eyes. We were not supposed to disturb in the library, and so we were hush-hush, and the feeling was so great. ‘Say it, Zak,’ she whispered earnestly.

 

‘I love you, Gyamaan,’ I whispered back. ‘I love you so much! Will you marry me?’

‘Oh, Zak!’ she breathed. When a woman you love looks at you like that and says your name like that, you could feel like you own the world. She reached over and squeezed my hand tightly.

‘Say it,’ I said whispered.

‘I love you,’ she whispered back, and it felt like the earth being created again, see. I felt goosebumps all over me, and I wanted to melt. Anyway, we were so happy.

 

The following day was different, though. She came to my rented place. When I opened the door for her that day Kwadwo Pamfo was descending the stairs, quite unfortunately, and he saw Gyamaan entering my room. He gave us a real mean look, and I guess that was when he called Gyamaan’s father and told her I had kidnapped Gyamaan, and gave him the location of my rented apartment.

 

Anyway, Gyamaan’s eyes were all puffy, and there were welts on her left cheek. She was really devastated. When she entered she broke into tears. I tried to console her, but she cried harder. She told me that she informed her father about us, that we loved each other and wanted to get married when we were older. Her father had been incensed. He did not want her to have anything to do with me.

 

He had been so angry that he had immediately started making arrangements for her to go to London to continue her education. Gyamaan had always been afraid of her father because he was very strict on her. She also had never disappointed him, but that day she had begged him and told him outright that she would not leave me. This had made him so angry that he had slapped her, hence the welts on her cheek.

 

I told Gyamaan not to worry; I told her to go to London, and that I would never forget her. She cried even harder because she thought I wanted to get rid of her too. Finally, she stopped crying and told me we should make love. She said if she got pregnant her father would allow her to marry me. I told her that was wrong; I told her we should not rush, but wait until we were older and get properly married, but she kept saying her father would separate us by all means, and the only way for us to thwart her father was if she got pregnant.

 

Finally, she seemed to agree with me no matter what, we would wait and abstain from sex. I left her then and went into the bathroom to take a bath. I took off my clothes and took a new razor blade to shave off the few hairs on my chin. See, I had begun getting that beard, and I was proud of it. Someone told me that if you begin shaving more hair would grow, so I shaved each morning before a bath because I wanted a bigger beard. Anyways, there I was, stark naked, holding a sharp razor blade, when the bathroom door opened. Gyamaan was standing there, naked too. I was so shocked. She came toward me.

 

‘Make me pregnant,’ she whispered desperately. ‘Daddy can’t separate us then!”

Man, I was so confused. I tried to hold her back, and just then I slipped on the tiles and fell. The razor blade opened a nasty cut on my stomach, and I began to bleed hard. Gyamaan screamed when she saw the blood and tried to help me off the floor. So, there we were, both naked, trying to help each other up from the floor.

 

My blood was all over her thighs and lower body…and then suddenly the door crashed open, and there were policemen in the bathroom with drawn guns! I panicked. I thought it was Gyamaan’s father who had sent them to kill me. And so I grabbed a towel and fled through the back door. The next day I learnt I was wanted for rape!”

The courtroom was extra silent for a moment, and then the indignant voices broke out.

“You fool!” Eduafo said with disgust as he glared at the boy in the dock. “You foolish fool!”

 

The pencil in Judge Kuntu’s hand snapped into two; he was so consumed with wrath that he had crushed the pencil.

Faddah got to his feet, walked to Zak, and stared at him coldly.

“I think we need a complete psychological test on you,” he said coldly. “I think you’re absolutely mad! You have no remorse for what you did! Now you had to go all out to blaspheme a decent girl and her father! Do you think the charges against you are funny?”

“I told you what happened,” Zak said calmly.

 

“The doctor examined the girl!” Faddah exploded, for once losing control of his calm. “The medical report states that you raped her brutally! That is evidence!”

“Did you ask for her clothes?” Zak asked, unruffled by the lawyer’s outburst.

“What?” Faddah asked, momentarily stumped.

“If I raped her brutally, I certainly would have torn her clothing, or inner garments or something she was wearing to slits! Did the police find her clothes? Were they torn? If you wanted evidence, why didn’t you ask for her clothing too?”

Once again silence reigned.

 

Faddah suddenly began to have a cold feeling in his guts.

He realised quite suddenly that he was not dealing with meek sheep at all, but a cunning fox with sharp teeth.

“The doctor’s evidence is conclusive!” Faddah said softly. “There were four witnesses, and the medical report confirms the girl’s statement that you raped her!”

“Gyamaan was ashamed when she was found in that situation,” Zak said. “She didn’t want to lose the respect and love her father had for her, and that was why she gave that statement. Now, let another doctor conduct another test on Gyamaan, and you’ll see -”

 

“Another test for what?” Faddah interrupted angrily. “You raped her two years ago! Do you take us for fools? What evidence do you think would be left after two years?”

“Her virginity,” Zak said calmly.

“What?” Faddah whispered, his legs going numb all of a sudden.

“Dear Lord!” Chief Inspector Boateng whispered from his seat, his hands trembling. “Dear sweet mother of God!”

 

“Gyamaan is still a virgin,” Zak said with great patience, as if speaking to a little child. “She sent a letter to me through one of my friends when I was on the run. She apologised for the lies she told about me. And she did it so that she would not lose the respect her father had for her.

 

She said she still loved me, and would keep her virginity until we get married when we are older. She wasn’t raped, Mr. Attorney! Whatever that doctor did, he did not examine Gyamaan. He just saw the blood all over her lower body – my blood, incidentally – and simply concluded that she had been raped, but Gyamaan is still a virgin.”

The shock was electric.

Almost in slow motion Faddah retreated, turned, and looked at Dr. Osafo Lassey. Eduafo turned too, and what he saw shocked him.

 

The little doctor who had given such conclusive evidence was sweating.

There was terror on his face, and he was visibly trembling.

 

Nana Yaw Boateng, The Trial Of The Beast, Nana Yaw Boateng, The Trial Of The Beast, Nana Yaw Boateng, The Trial Of The Beast, Nana Yaw Boateng, The Trial Of The Beast, Nana Yaw Boateng, The Trial Of The Beast, Nana Yaw Boateng, The Trial Of The Beast.

 

Guest Writer: NAYA YAW BOATENG :: THE TRIAL OF THE BEAST :: EPISODE 8

 

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