Dangerous Love - Episode 2

 

By: Adebayo Seyi
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Episode 2 – Femi

Femi Odunuga strode out of the defendant’s bench to the front of the courtroom. The Limelight.

He swaggered with cocksureness and began his defense; although this was the final hearing he was not afraid of the verdict the judge was going to pass.

He had been taught to win, and win he shall.

He had to win. He eyed the prosecuting counsel that leveled with him with a glare that spoke clearly of the ambivalence they had for him.

He bowed to the judge and also gave a mock genuflection to the court.

Then he began.

“Your Honou, I know the prosecutor would like to think Mrs . Chinyere is a cold blooded murderess who murdered her husband” he turned to the audience of the court as if to solicit their support. “But I tell you intelligent men and women in this courtroom with powers of perception that Mrs. Chinyere is definitely not a cold blooded pre meditated murderess the prosecutor paints her to be. She is a woman who has suffered profound abuse at the hands of the very person that should have been her protector. A man whose brutish and promiscuous inclination had sent her to the hospital for treatments from the severe beating she got and for the sexually transmitted disease her husband gave her. A man who raped her and locked her in the dogs’ kernel” he paused, shaking his head morosely

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/dangerous-love

. As expected, the information he just passed had many of the audience hissing and murmuring in disgust.

Mr. Felix is no saint.

He had successfully tarnished the image of the deceased and made his client to be the victim and had also sought the clemency of the female judge who was sure to understand the dilemma Chinyere was in.

“We should not jail this woman whose crime only was to to protect her life and the life of her six months old fetus from the boorish brute she married.I know the prosecutors would argue that no one should take the law into their hands. But where was the law when Chinyere received slaps and blows from her husband?” he paused for effect.

“Nowhere to be found! That’s where! …….”Femi knew he had  the courtroom and especially the press’ rapt attention who seemed to be enthralled with his grandiloquence and anger towards the perceived injustice of his client.

Smile for the camera.

He saw from the corner of his eyes Demola, the prosecutor whisper into the ears of the young paralegal girl sitting beside him.

He knew the reputation he had amongst the police force.

He was a dirty lawyer.

A dirty lawyer who represented scums fraudulent businessmen, dirty politicians, and murderers.

Murderesses.                                                   

Like Mrs. Chinyere, a forty three years old woman who had bludgeoned her husband with a wooden pestle after he had informed her of his decision to divorce her and marry another wife.

The pro of the case was that the man Mr. Felix Owazumbe was a wife beater. The grim hospital records of fractured bones and miscarriages were all testament to the repeated abuse.

And the cons were that the murder was premeditated as she had murdered him on his bed while asleep and he had been drugged before he slept.

Due to his heart condition – angina. He took a daily dose of atenolol.

The police in the autopsy reports had found out the man had overdose of atenolol in his stomach prior to his death.

And the suspicion fell on his wife who knew the risk of the overdose of his drug.

Uneven heartbeat.

Dizziness.

Lethargy.

Fainting.

These were the symptoms of overdosing atenolol.

But the ultimate goal would be to leave the victim defenseless against assault and Mr. Felix had been defenseless as they were no defense wounds on him when he was examined post mortem.

Although, Mrs. Chinyere denied any knowledge of the overdose.

She had confided in him that she had grounded fifty pills of the drug and mixed it with his bottle of  whiskey that she knew he was certain to take a glass of before sleeping, as was his custom.

The overdose left him defenseless as she pummeled him to death.

Then he had asked her why she didn’t just poison him and get the ugly thing over with.

After all, statistically speaking, poison was a woman’s choice of murder weapon.

She had looked him with contempt like looking at a leper; the blue prison cloth hanging loose at her shoulder and accentuating her sagging breasts.

“Men” she spat disgustedly shaking her head.

“My husband liked to be in control, all his whims obeyed . I wasn’t going to kill him like a coward. No. I wanted him to suffer for the pains he put me through” she said smiling wryly.

Femi finally agreed that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Mr. Felix Owanzube’s authoritarian appetence  had now become the cause of his agonizing death.

The defense’s argument was that she (Mrs. Chinyere) had endured abuse at the hands of her husband and had been pushed over the ledge and had retaliated.

The prosecution countered that Mr. Felix did not beat her on the nineteenth of August hence, there was no provocation on his part and this put a hole in the argument of self-defense also the deceased had no defense wounds on his body, this was a premeditated murder and coupled with the fact that he had been overdosed allegedly by Chinyere.

She deserved to be locked in a cell and the key, thrown into the Pacific.

She had been charged with first degree murder and Chinyere pleaded innocent.

Femi appealed to the judge’s empathy with extenuating elucidation to consider the abuse she endured at the hands of her husband and he called to the stand a psychologist who assented that Mrs. Chinyere could have pushed off the ledge due to the brutahhlity she suffered at the hands of her husband.

Femi promptly displayed the pictures of Chinyere’s battered face and hospital records that spoke of her chronicles to the emergency unit.

The judge called for a recess after the prosecuting counsel had also presented their evidences and autopsy reports that were to the effect that Chinyere was a murderess that deserved no sympathy as there were organizations that dealt with abuse and had reports been made her case would have been taken up.

The judge called for a recess before presenting her verdict.

Timed passed too slowly for Femi who had on his mask of indifference. anyone watching might say he is over confident.

If only they knew that that the insouciance he projected was only a defense mechanism to hide the skepticism he felt.

One never can be too sure.

This just wasn’t a case for him.

It was a battle of reputation between him and the prosecution.

This case had garnered the media’s attention and was sure was going to get him reputation and in turn money.

Being on retainers for rich and corrupt politicians wasn’t going to hurt his bank account. 

He knew Chinyere was impatient.

She wore her impatience on her sleeve.

But who wouldn’t?

Being faced with a charge that could leave you incarcerated for life was enough to scare the wits of any compos mentis.

The wait was over.

The recess is over.

The Judge slowly read her verdict.

Chinyere was acquitted and free to go.

The news was met with mixed expressions as some people jubilated and the rest expressed their disgust shouting in disapproval.

Chinyere hugged him and thanked him profusely as her relatives surrounded her and congratulated her for her victory.

The prosecuting counsel left the courtroom sullen faced and was swarmed by the reporters thrusting the microphones into their mouth for their mood after they had lost the case.

And amidst the euphoria Femi felt for winning this case.

His phone rang.  

His wife.

Femi did not love his wife; although he had at a time when her love still waxed strong in his heart but now the flame of love that had at one time burned in his heart was now subzero cold. 

He picked the call and before he could convey how inconvenient her timing was she gave him news that shocked him and left his mouth agape.

What?!