Reluctant Consent

by Margaret Barnes

  ‘He’s been doing that for the last half hour,’ Lee said.

  ‘I can’t imagine what it’s like. Your whole life in the hands of twelve men and women who don’t really know who you are and what you’re like.’ Cassie paused. ‘Do you have a brother?’

  Lee shook her head. ‘Do you?’

  ‘No. I have a sister and she has two young sons. I sometimes think how easy it is for a young man to misread a situation and find himself accused of rape. Your life destroyed for a mistake.’

  ‘Men have the power.’

  ‘Do they? Does he?’ Cassie nodded towards Sadler still pacing the floor. ‘He’s quite vulnerable too. From what his ex said, he’s had a difficult time. His mother effectively abandoning him. Leaving him with an aunt. Linda Callender thought he was very dependent on her, wanting a permanent relationship too soon.’

  ‘Wanting sex too soon.’

  ‘You were positive he was innocent.’

  ‘I still think that. The beginning of a relationship – it’s a difficult time. We’ve all been there. You want the sex. You’re not sure if you should say yes and he’ll think you’re a slut and never see you again, or you say no and he thinks you’re too cold or you don’t like him, and you never see him again. In the meantime you’re responding to him physically and before you know where you are you’re having sex with him and it’s too late to stop it.’

  ‘Not just the beginning of a relationship either.’

  Cassie’s thoughts were interrupted by the usher. ‘The jury have asked for sandwiches. Judge Tyte won’t take a verdict before two.’

  Cassie and Lee interrupted Sadler’s pacing and told him nothing would happen until after the luncheon adjournment. Sadler shook his head. ‘I couldn’t eat anything.’

  ‘Come and have a cup of tea, at least,’ Lee said, taking him by the arm and leading him towards the staircase.

  Cassie returned to the outside of Court 12 at two. Lee was sitting reading a newspaper and Sadler was slumped next to her. Cassie sat down next to her solicitor. A few minutes later the usher walked towards them. ‘Judge Tyte is having the jury back into court.’

  ‘Is there a verdict?’ Cassie said.

  ‘I think he wants to give them a majority direction.’

  Cassie called Paul Sadler over to the courtroom door. ‘The judge has asked for the jury to be brought into court so I think he intends to give them the direction about reaching a majority verdict. You’ll have to go back into the dock.’

  When Cassie and Hugh were in their seats, Judge Tyte said, ‘Mr Palmer, Miss Hardman, I propose giving the jury the majority direction. Do you have anything to say?’

  The both said they did not.

  Cassie always watched the jury carefully as the direction was given. She wanted to see their reactions; it might provide an indication as to what was going on in the jury room and how close they were to agreeing on a verdict. Sometimes it was obvious that getting ten to agree was just as difficult as getting a unanimous verdict. The oldest of the seven women looked directly at Sadler and shook her head; the woman with the dark curly hair looked puzzled, and the young male with the single earring had lost the grin he’d worn throughout the trial. Only a man in his forties looked down his nose at Cassie. She turned to Lee. ‘Looks like it might be a hung jury.’

  Outside the courtroom, Sadler was shaking as he asked what the majority direction meant. Cassie explained. ‘It’s not a simple majority. At least ten must agree.’

  ‘What happens if they can’t agree?’ said Sadler.

  ‘The case will be heard again.’

  He turned away from her, walked towards the plate-glass window and leant his forehead against it. She heard him weeping. Lee went over, put a hand on his shoulder and led him back to one of the benches in the hall. He sat down, his head in his hands.

  About half an hour later, they were called back into court. Cassie watched closely as the jury filed into the jury box. The juror Cassie had named ‘the golden girl’ looked at the dock. Did that mean they would acquit? She considered that a good sign. The clerk stood and asked the foreman to stand. A large man in his fifties had taken the seat at the front of the jury box closest to the judge. He pulled himself to his feet and said they had.

  ‘Mr Foreman, do you find the defendant guilty of rape or not guilty?’

  Cassie held her breath and closed her eyes. It seemed a long time before the foreman said, ‘Not guilty, My Lord.’

  There was a cry from the public gallery and the security staff were bundling someone out of the door. It looked like a young man, but Cassie didn’t get a good look at him. She did see DI Crawford stomping out of the courtroom.

  Chapter 35

  ‘I’ll call the defendant, My Lord. Mr Montgomery, please.’ Cassie watched him walk from the dock to the witness box and noticed for the first time that he had a rolling gait as if he were still at sea. He was dressed in a white shirt, a navy jacket and grey trousers, but he had abandoned his tie. Despite his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, he read the words of the oath in a firm voice and an aggressively neutral accent.

  Under Cassie’s gentle questioning he told the court about the shop and how he’d inherited it. She asked him about the problems he’d had with the young men from the school. He appeared to have taken her advice and stuck to describing the events without being abusive towards his tormentors.

  ‘Let’s turn to March third. What time did the boys come into the shop?’

  ‘It must have been soon after three thirty, when school finished.’

  ‘You’ve told us about youngsters from the school coming into the shop and stealing from you. Had you seen the lads who came into the shop that day before?’

  ‘Oh, yes. I recognised all three, although they may not have all been together before.’

  ‘When they came in the shop, what were you doing?’

  ‘I was standing behind the counter on the telephone, I think, to one of my suppliers.’

  ‘What did the boys do while you were on the phone?’

  ‘They started to take down magazines from the top shelf.’

  ‘What type of magazines?’

  ‘I think they would be described as … pornographic. Mildly pornographic.’ For the first time Cassie thought he looked a bit sheepish; a bit of humility wouldn’t go adrift with the jury. She glanced towards them and noticed a grin on one of the younger men’s face, before asking her next question.

  ‘What was your response to them taking the magazines?’

  Montgomery had rotated a little in the witness box and was looking at her instead of the jury. She did what Marcus had done and turned away from him so that she was facing the judge and could see both the defendant and the jury with only a slight turn of her head.

  ‘I told them to put them back. I didn’t say, but I won’t sell them to schoolkids.’

  Now Cassie was able to observe the jury, she could get some idea of their reaction to Montgomery’s comments. Some of the women on the jury nodded, she hoped in approval.

  ‘Did they do what you asked?’

  ‘No. They started to tear the plastic wrappers off the magazines.’

  ‘What did you do about that?’

  ‘I put the phone down and shouted at them. I swore at them.’

  ‘What did you say?’ Cassie said. Montgomery hesitated and looked first at her and then at the judge, who said, ‘We’ve all heard the words before so please tell us exactly what you said.’

  ‘I think I called them black bastards and told them to bugger off.’

  ‘Did they leave the shop then?’

  ‘They threw the magazines on the floor. They went to pick up bars of chocolate from the shelves in the middle of the shop.’

  ‘Did they pay for the chocolate?’

  ‘They were in front of the counter, but they didn’t offer to pay. They asked for sweets, sweets and cigarettes.’

  ‘Where do you keep the sweets and cigarettes?’

  ‘The fags, c
igarettes, are on shelves behind the counter and the sweets are in large jars along the front.’

  ‘If we look at photo three in the bundle does that show the counter?’ There was a pause while the jurors shuffled through their papers, found the bundle and opened it. Cassie looked along the two rows and thought they were rather enjoying listening to the defendant. None of them had the blank look they sometimes wore when a case seemed impossible to defend.

  ‘Did you sell them any sweets or cigarettes?’

  ‘I told them as far as the fags, sorry, cigarettes, they were underage and they couldn’t have any.’

  ‘Did they accept that you were not going to sell them cigarettes?’

  ‘They said their mother had sent them.’

  ‘Did that make any difference?’

  ‘I have sold cigarettes to underage kids when they have assured me they were buying them on behalf of adults. I know I shouldn’t, but, well, some of them do get sent on errands by their parents. This time I said no, I wasn’t going to let them have any.’

  ‘What was their reaction to your refusal?’

  ‘They became very abusive. Called me a silly old wanker, stupid. Told me to fuck off. I was shouting at them to get out. I swore at them.’

  ‘Can you remember what you said?’

  ‘Not really, but if they say I called them fucking niggers and black bastards I probably did.’

  Cassie heard the slight click of disapproval from James, but she hoped the jury would think her client was being truthful rather than confirming how prejudiced he was. She moved on to her next question.

  ‘Had they moved away from the counter?’

  ‘No, they were right up against it, pushing at it, leaning over. Swearing at me, calling me a wanker and a cunt. Then one of them said I was a paedophile, paedo or pervert. Something like that. I picked up that golf club,’ he gestured in the direction of the exhibits table, ‘and waved it at them. They moved back and went towards the door but one of them picked up some chocolate, bars of chocolate. I yelled at him to put it back.’

  ‘Did he do that?’

  ‘They just kept going out of the shop. I went round the counter and followed them towards the door.’

  ‘Why did you follow them?’

  ‘I wanted to get the chocolate back and I wanted to make sure they left.’

  ‘Did you still have the golf club?’

  ‘I did. They’re big lads. I couldn’t push them out.’

  ‘Did they leave the shop?’

  ‘They went outside on the pavement and then stopped and turned towards me. It was then I saw the knife. The one in the middle was holding a knife out towards me. Campbell I think it was.’

  ‘What did you think was going to happen?’

  ‘I thought he was going to stab me with it so I swung the golf club and then … it was so fast. I think I caught him and there was a scream. I could still see the knife so I hit out again and as the club came down it hit the one running between me and the lad … the one with the knife. He went down, then this much younger boy came. He bent over. The youngster jumped up and ran at me shouting I’d killed his brother. I ran inside and called an ambulance and the police.’

  ‘Did you intend to hit Albie Young?’

  ‘No, I wanted to get the knife out of the other lad’s hand. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.’

  Cassie turned round to James seeking assurance there was nothing else to cover with the defendant. He nodded. She thanked Mr Montgomery and told him he would be asked some more questions.

  Marcus was already on his feet but Judge Crabtree intervened and said he thought a break would be appropriate. Montgomery was led back to the dock.

  ‘Can you tell him we can’t speak to him while he’s giving evidence,’ Cassie said to Zac.

  ‘I thought he gave his evidence quite well,’ said James.

  ‘What did you think the jury made of him?’

  ‘They seemed to understand where he was coming from.’

  ‘A break now may help. The jurors will be considering his evidence and deciding whether they believe him or not. That’s why Marcus was anxious to start cross examination. They may have decided he’s being truthful so Marcus must make them change their minds. That’s harder than while they’re still uncertain. But if, under pressure, he starts ranting he’ll quickly lose the jury’s sympathy and I think Marcus will provoke him into losing it.’

  Marcus Pike was clearly relishing the thought of cross examining Montgomery. Cassie could see the glint in his eyes. His lips puckered as if he was holding in the words and the tension as he flicked the pages of his notebook. She watched as he spoke in hushed tones to Robin Tasker. Montgomery was standing in the witness box, his hands gripping the sides. He looked towards her and she smiled at him. She wondered if she had been too strident in her advice about answering Marcus’s questions, but she knew how skilfully Marcus would try to provoke him into showing his anger and his dislike of these young men.

  ‘You’re still under oath, Mr Montgomery,’ Judge Crabtree said.

  ‘Yes, yes, I understand,’

  ‘Right, Mr Pike.’

  Marcus stood and looked across the room at the jury, his eyes washing over them as he sought their attention. When they were watching him he turned to the man in the witness box. ‘It must be very difficult trying to run a small shop these days, without having young people stealing from you and damaging your stock?’

  ‘It is. The profit margin on these items is so small. I can’t afford to lose it, any of it.’

  ‘Are most of your customers children from the school?’

  ‘It depends on the time of day. In the morning I get people on their way to work. They don’t want to walk the extra distance to the supermarket. They’ll buy cigarettes and sometimes a magazine. Not newspapers really, not now the Metro is free.’

  ‘Yes, the free daily. But I guess the supermarkets don’t stock the top-shelf magazines, so you make some sales with those?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘But later in the day it’s the children from St Colombs?’

  ‘Lunchtimes some of them come in and browse round the comics. Buy a Coke – I think they’ve banned them at school. The younger ones like buying sweets as I can weigh out a couple of ounces for them. Or they buy a bar of chocolate for their dinner.’

  ‘Just like children always did?’

  Cassie kept her eyes down on her notebooks and scribbled her own record of the exchange, combining the questions and answers to create a narrative on which she could rely. It was a skill she had acquired over the years and she was very good at getting the essence of the exchanges down on paper. She didn’t want to look at either the jury or her client, certainly not her client. Marcus was being sympathetic, lulling Montgomery into letting down his guard. She knew her client would respond to that and would begin to feel comfortable and it was then that Marcus would spring his traps.

  ‘Would it be right to say that you were on edge the moment these boys came into the shop?’

  ‘I thought I recognised them and I assumed they would probably steal or cause some damage. I was watching them closely.’

  ‘You weren’t going to throw them out?’

  ‘Not if they behaved themselves.’

  ‘You were prepared to sell them whatever they wanted?’

  ‘Up to a point. I’ve already said I don’t sell top-shelf magazines to anyone under eighteen.’

  ‘Cigarettes – you would sell them cigarettes?’

  ‘I might have sold a single packet on the understanding it was for a parent.’

  ‘Even though they were underage?’

  ‘I’ve said I did from time to time.’

  ‘So you did, so you did.’ Marcus paused and Cassie looked towards him wondering what Marcus was trying to establish.

  ‘You were on the phone when they first came into the shop, but you didn’t ring off immediately?’

  ‘I can’t remember what the call was about, but I was pr
obably speaking to the people who deliver the magazines. I wanted to get whatever it was sorted out.’

  ‘That was more important than the possible threat from the boys?’

  ‘I was keeping an eye on them. Watching them. Trying to see what they were up to.’

  ‘You were expecting problems from them because they were black?’

  Montgomery said nothing, his eyes fixed on Marcus who swivelled round to look at the jury and then turned back to him.

  ‘Isn’t that right?’

  ‘That’s what you say.’

  ‘What do you say?’

  ‘It’s what’s happened before.’

  ‘It was while you were on the phone the lads began to misbehave?’

  ‘Yes, they took some magazines from the top shelf. That was when I finished the call and told them to put them back.’

  ‘Did you shout at them?’

  ‘Probably.’

  ‘Shout that they were black bastards?’

  ‘I don’t know if I said that straight away but at some time I did. I’ve had nothing but trouble from these, these black kids, youths. I hoped they would leave the shop, but they threw the books on the floor so I went round to pick them up.’

  Cassie turned and said to James in a rather loud whisper, ‘Have you got that? Can you underline that passage?’ She then looked at the jury; at least some of them had been distracted by her comment.

  ‘The boys had got fed up waiting for you to finish your call and then they asked to be served?’

  ‘Not before they’d damaged some of my stock.’

  ‘They wanted to buy some sweets?’

  ‘Yes, and fags.’

  ‘Cigarettes. You said you’d sold them cigarettes before but on this occasion, you declined to do so. Can you explain why?’

  ‘They’d damaged the books, tearing off the wrappers and throwing them on the ground. They were underage and I knew that they were fibbing when they said they’d been sent by their mum.’