"Leave me alone!” Nathan screamed as the other boys in his class cornered him.
“Mummy’s little boy”, Scott, his former best friend mocked him and everyone in the group laughed.
“Let’s see how you’re going to come to school again, when your mama goes to prison” Chidi said. And once again, they laughed as though they were hearing those lines for the first time.
Nathan was one of the students in their school whose tuition fees were being paid by Kimberly Jacobs Foundation. Since the day Kim was arrested and declared a person of interest in the murder of her husband, fates turned upside down for the students whose bills she paid as everyone began mocking and taunting them.
Your mama is gonna die, let’s see how you survive.
When your mama dies, I wonder if your tongue will still be talking this fast.
“Leave me!” Nathan screamed again. The other six boys laughed, gave themselves hi-five as they walked away.
“If you lick my feet, Nathan. Maybe, I’ll pay your fees!” Chidi screamed and Nathan kept hearing the echo of their laughter in his mind even after the boys were miles away from him.
****
The trial of the state of Anambra vs Kim Jacobs Harrison for the murder of her husband, Mr Richard Harrison.
“Mrs Meryl Maina, why are you here?” Jean asked.
“I’m here to…”
“To make sure justice is passed or to ensure that you don’t get deported?” Jean asked.
Meryl’s hands shivered.
“Weren’t you promised a chance to remain in Nigeria if you testified against my client?” Jean asked.
“Yes but…”
“Did you not have a fight with my client who happens to be your employer on the first of last month over your salary?”
“Yes but…”
Jean walked away, saying, “I would like this court to keep in mind that whatever Mrs Meryl Maina has to say are simply the words of a disgruntled employee and an immigrant desperate to remain in this country by all means”.
****
“Mrs. Meryl Maina, thanks for coming. Please disregard whatever anyone has said to you and help this court obtain justice for Mr Harrison” Jasmine said.
“Can you please tell us where you were on the eleventh of July, 2016 at 10:45pm?”
“Mrs Kimberly Harrison’s house”
“Why were you there? I thought Mrs Harrison sent the entire staff home that night?” Jasmine asked.
“I forgot my son’s sketch book”.
“Couldn’t have you waited till the following day to get the book?” Jasmine asked.
“No. He wanted to show his drawings to someone else that weekend before he submits it on Monday” Meryl said.
“So, where in Mrs. Harrison’s compound did you leave the book?”
“At the guests’ section”.
“And who stayed there?”
“Mr Richard”
“What was your duty in the guest section?”
“I cleaned the rooms” Meryl said.
“So, when you entered the compound at 10:45pm, you headed straight for the guests’ section?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes”
“And after that”
“I knocked but Mr Richard didn’t open. However, I saw that the door was not locked and so, I entered” Meryl said.
Jasmine moved away from her seat and stopped “when you walked into his house, what did you do?”
“I searched the living room but the book was not there. So, I left and walked to the kitchen” Meryl said.
“Was anything different about the house when you entered?” Jasmine asked.
Meryl paused. “No. the house was in perfect order, the way Mr Richard loved to keep his things” Meryl said.
“So, on getting to the kitchen, what did you see?” Jasmine asked.
“Mr Richard-” Meryl’s voice cracked “he was lying on the floor in a pool of blood”.
“What happened next?”
“I was so terrified. I screamed and ran to the mansion to tell madam”.
“And when you reached the mansion?” Jasmine asked.
“I ran to Mrs Harrison’s room” Meryl said.
“And what did you see?”
“Drops of blood on the floor. And Mrs Harrison was lying in her bed. Her hands and clothes were also stained with blood”.
“When you saw this, what did you think?”
“Objection, my Lord! We cannot accept any testimony based on what someone thinks or assumes” Jean said.
“My Lord. My question is not for her to conclude anything on behalf of this court. But to simply share with us, every step of what she experienced that fateful night” Jasmine said.
“Objection overruled” Judge Nnamdi said.
“Please, Meryl when you saw Mrs Harrison lying in her bed with blood on her cloth and hands. What happened next?”
“I thought she was dead. I ran to Angel Harrison’s bedroom. I checked every room in the mansion. I didn’t find her. Trembling, I called the police and told them my employers were dead” Meryl said.
“After that”
She remembered waiting and waiting to hear the sound of the arrival of the police van. Several minutes went by and she started thinking of how the police never arrived quickly after a call and yet, for a phone call of food delivery, before you hung up, the delivery guy was at your doorstep.
“Almost thirty minutes later, I was downstairs when I heard noise from upstairs” Meryl said.
“What did you think the noise was?”
“At first, I thought the killer was still in the house. But the movement upstairs persisted. So, I decided to check” Meryl said.
“And when you went back upstairs, where did you go?”
“Mrs Harrison’s bedroom. It was where the noise was coming from”.
Jasmine looked around, making sure the journalists and judge were paying attention. She walked closer to Meryl. “When you reached Mrs Harrison room, what did you see?”
“I saw Mrs Harrison pulling off her dress…”
“The blood-stained dress?”
“Yes”
“Then she walked to her bathroom, washed her body, wore her nightwear and went back to her bed”.
“What happened next?”
“I heard the police siren. Hurriedly, I grabbed the blood-stained dress, wiped the blood on the floor and pulled out the bedspread as I moved Mrs Harrison and ran out” Meryl said.
Jasmine paused. “What did you do next?”
“I hid the cloths and took a hidden path to the guest house to wait for the police” Meryl said.
“Describe the blood-stained dress that Mrs Harrison pulled off” Jasmine said.
“A yellow flowered dress”.
Jasmine walked to her desk and pulled out a picture.
“Is this the picture of the dress?”
“Yes” Meryl said.
And Jasmine dropped another copy of the picture for the judge to see.
“Why did you hide the dress, Mrs Maina?”
Meryl swallowed a lump in her throat. “I was scared” Meryl said.
Jasmine raised an eyebrow “before this incident, you’ve never committed a crime. So, why were you scared?”
“because it was not the first time” Meryl cried.
“Not the first time for what?”
Meryl looked at Kim and removed her eyes. “For Mrs Harrison, to do bad”.
Jasmine stepped back in shock, “what other bad thing has Mrs Harrison done?”
“Objection my Lord!” Jean yelled.
“Objection overruled. Let’s hear what she has to say” Judge Nnamdi said.
“One time, Mrs Harrison said she’ll kill Tessy and Tessy died the next day”.
Jasmine’s eyes bulged. “Who’s Tessy, Mrs. Maina?”
“Mrs Harrison’s dog”.
“And what did you say Mrs. Harrison did to her dog?”
“Kill it” Meryl said.
“Objection my Lord! There’s no law that forbids killing a dog” Jean fired.
“My Lord. This issue has immense relevance to the case”
The judge nodded to Jasmine, signalling that she should go on.
“How did you know that Mrs Harrison killed Tessy?”
“A day before Tessy died, she tore Mrs Harrison’s cloth. So, Mrs Harrison said that she’ll cook a pot of meat pepper soup, poison it and kill Tessy with it” Meryl said.
“Then what happened?”
“That night I woke up and heard noise from the kitchen. At first, I thought it was a burglar but when I entered the kitchen, I saw Mrs Harrison”.
“What was she doing?” Jasmine asked and took some steps backward.
“Cooking” Meryl said.
“In the middle of the night? What was she cooking?”
“Meat pepper soup” Meryl answered.
“Did Mrs Harrison look any different while she was cooking?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes” Meryl said. “Just like the night, Mr. Richard died, I stood right there in front of her. But, she was not looking at me. It was as if I was not there” Meryl said.
“Did you call her name?”
“Yes, but she didn’t answer. Her eyes were closed but her hands continued working”.
“Instantly, when you saw her like this in the kitchen, what did you think?” Jasmine asked.
“I knew she was sleepwalking”.
“Objection my Lord! Mrs Maina is not expert enough to diagnose my client of any ailment”.
“Objection sustained” Judge Nnamdi said. “Carry on, prosecution”.
“After that, what happened?”
“I left her and went to bed. I didn’t think anything serious could happen because when I was in my teens, my younger brother used to sleepwalk”.
“Objection my Lord. She can’t use that word” Jean said.
“Mrs Maina, take caution” The judge said.
“So, what happened the following day when you woke up?” Jasmine asked.
“Tessy was dead. And right beside her were two pieces of meat”.
“Could someone else have given Tessy the meat?”
“No. Tessy always refused to eat from anyone other than Mrs Harrison”.
“Meryl tell us, did you ever see Mr and Mrs. Harrison fight?” Jasmine asked.
“No” Meryl said. “They laughed a lot” Meryl added
“Tell me one thing you heard them laughing about” Jasmine said.
“They were watching a movie one time when Mr. Richard said he wished he could turn into anaconda and swallow anybody that made him angry” Meryl said.
“And what did Mrs Harrison say?”
“She laughed and said that if he tried that she’ll take a knife and plunge it into him” Meryl said.
Murmurs filled the court.
Jasmine spread her hands and said “this is as simple as abc. Kim Harrison is a nocturnal person who executes her previous day’s thoughts or words unconsciously. She may not have meant to kill her dog but she did and ended up killing it exactly the way she described”.
Jasmine paused, looked around “Hence, I put it to this court, that just like Kim Harrison said she would, she took a knife and plunged it into her husband, Richard Harrison-”
“While she was sleepwalking”.