‘Have you any more sense of whether I’ll get a suspended sentence?’ asked Anna. Surely Lindy had more idea now that things were underway.
‘Well, we knew she’d ask for a custodial sentence. Like I said, she’s more or less obliged to. We’ll just have to see how things unfold. As you know, this is an unusual case. The judge won’t have other cases to use as comparatives.’ She smiled. ‘We’re doing our best. I’m hopeful.’ She drank from the metal water bottle on the desk. ‘I should go and introduce myself to the grandmother. I’ll be back in a moment.’
Anna’s dad handed her a styrofoam cup of tea. ‘Here you go, love.’
‘Thanks, Dad.’ He’d put heaps of sugar in the tea. She looked out the half-open door and wondered if Dave had already left. He’d know where she’d be at tea-break, surely.
Lindy walked back in, her robe billowing.
‘Bloody hell, Grandma is not a well woman, is she? Poor thing. I hope she’s up to it. Carly’s gone to get her a pastry.’
‘But she’s diabetic,’ said Anna.
Lindy gazed steadily at Anna for a long moment. ‘Is she?’
Anna nodded, her jaw tight. ‘Apparently.’
Lindy knew. She must know.
Anna said, ‘It’s too cold in there. I left my jacket at the hotel.’
Her dad took off his suit coat. ‘Here, have this, darling.’
‘No.’ Lindy shook her head. ‘It will look baggy and strange. It is particularly cold in there today. Take this, Anna.’ She pulled a grey cardigan from her bag.
‘Thank you.’ The cardigan smelt of a floral perfume.
On the way back to court, they passed Prue, who’d changed seats. She glanced up at Anna and smiled. Anna smiled back then looked away. She was not even meant to know what Prue looked like.
The thrumming sensation in her chest increased as she walked in the double swinging doors. She had to make each breath happen, as if her body was not sure how to do it anymore.
‘All rise.’
The judge entered from a door to one side of the bench and settled into his seat. Anna sat down in the dock.
A police officer held the door open for Prue, who moved through the public gallery, leaning heavily on her walker. She didn’t look around her but shuffled steadily forward, her breath laboured. She wore a pink dress and her hair had been set.
The judge said, ‘Madam, if you’d find it easier not to climb the stairs to the witness box, we can arrange for you to give evidence down there.’
Prue shook her head. ‘No, I’ll be right.’
She made her way slowly up the steps to the witness box and sat heavily. She looked up, straight at Anna and they locked eyes for a moment, for all the court to see. Anna kept her face blank.
Look away now, Prue.
The court officer appeared at Prue’s side and Prue gave an affirmation, her voice too loud, as if she hadn’t noticed there was a microphone in front of her. Perjury was probably a jailable offence on its own, thought Anna. Did Prue understand the gravity of what she was about to do?
Please don’t slip up.
Lindy stood. ‘What is your full name?’
‘Prudence Ann Seybold.’
‘And what is your relationship to Charlie Seybold?’
‘I’m her grandmother. Maternal grandmother.’
‘And your granddaughter is living with you at the moment, is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘Before the girl came to live with you on the second of March this year, when had you last seen her?’
Prue cleared her throat wheezily. ‘Not for a while. Not for about a year-and-a-half. My daughter and I had a falling out.’ She adjusted one of the cuffs of her pink dress.
‘And when you saw your granddaughter before the falling out, which would be almost two years ago now, did she seem well cared for by your daughter?’
‘No.’
‘What did you notice about your granddaughter, Mrs Seybold?’
‘She was too thin. Really thin little thing.’ Prue stared at Lindy. ‘And . . .’ She moved her head as if her neck was tight. ‘And she just looked . . . peaky. Clingy. She had an infected thing here,’ Prue tapped her forearm, ‘that Gabby wouldn’t look after at all. I was worried about it. It was really nasty.’
‘Your granddaughter had an infection on her arm?’
‘Yeah. Nasty boils.’
Anna had seen a few pockmarked scars on Charlie’s right forearm.
‘What was the falling out with your daughter about?’
‘Money. She borrowed money from me for rent but didn’t use it for that and got kicked out of the flat she was in. And didn’t pay it back.’
Prue was sounding confident. Anna knew that Bridget, the solicitor, had spent quite a bit of time on the phone with her.
‘And how did your granddaughter seem to you when she came into your care on the second of March this year?’
‘She seemed much healthier than the last time I’d seen her. She’d put on weight. Better colour in her cheeks. Just healthier.’
‘And how would you describe her emotional state when she came to you in March?’
‘Upset. She kept asking me why the police took her and she wanted me to phone Anna.’
Prue’s voice dropped. ‘She didn’t remember ever meeting me and . . . I mean, she knew I was her nanna . . .’ She looked down. ‘But she didn’t want to be with me.’ She glanced at Anna. ‘She kept asking for me to phone her mother and Anna and tell them to come. She would not stop asking.’
Anna swallowed.
‘What did you do?’
Why was Lindy asking her that? Anna’s throat tightened.
Prue glanced from Lindy to Anna and back. ‘My daughter doesn’t answer her phone and I’d been told by the policewoman not to try and contact Anna. But I didn’t have a number for her anyway.’
Lindy nodded. ‘What else did Charlie say about Anna and how Anna treated her when they were on the run?’
‘She told me things about how they lived in a cottage and she played with the other kids who lived close by. She wanted to go back there. She still talks about it. She said that Anna made her pikelets every morning for breakfast, and they had hot chocolate and that I had to make her that.’
Prue’s voice shook. ‘And she said Anna read her a book about possums. She wanted me to find her the book. And I couldn’t figure out what book it was . . . I tried.’ Prue reached for the glass of water on the shelf in front of her.
Lindy waited while Prue drank and set the glass back on the shelf. ‘Does your granddaughter say she misses her mother?’
‘Oh, yes. But more when she first came to me than now.’ Prue’s lips were tight. She gave a small wheezy cough. ‘She wanted to go back to the caravan where she lived with her mother.’
Anna wished Lindy would wind it up.
‘Does your granddaughter have any contact with her mother?’
‘Well, Gabby was meant to come for a visit, a supervised visit.’ Prue shook her head. ‘She just didn’t turn up. We were waiting. It was awful.’
‘Is your daughter a drug user, as far as you know?’
‘She was using drugs when I saw them at the caravan park, back before we fell out.’ She sounded more and more breathless.
Anna hoped she had her Ventolin with her.
‘I saw the pipe and stuff beside her bed.’
‘That was about two years ago?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you know what drugs she was using at that time?’
‘No.’ Prue’s face crumpled. She looked down. Over the speakers Anna could hear her shaky inhalations.
The judge said, ‘Do you need a moment’s break, madam?’ His voice was kind.
Anna wondered if it had occurred to him – as it had to her – that he and Prue were about the same age.
Prue looked up. ‘No. I’m fine. Thank you.’ Her face was pasty grey.
Lindy said, ‘Two last questions, Mrs Seybold. I won’t keep
you much longer. Did your daughter contact you to let you know that she wanted you to care for your granddaughter?’
‘No. Someone phoned me. I don’t know if it was someone from welfare or the police. And I tried to phone Gabby but she didn’t answer. She phoned me back a few days after Charlie was brought to my house by the welfare women.’
‘And when you spoke to her, did your daughter say why she wanted you to take care of your granddaughter?’
‘She said,’ Prue glanced up at Anna, ‘she said she was over being a mother. That it was too hard.’
The court was silent, the only noise the distant thrumming machine and Prue’s wheezy breath.
Anna glanced at Lindy. Was she pausing for dramatic effect?
‘Thank you, Mrs Seybold,’ Lindy said. ‘No more questions, Your Honour. But I draw your attention to evidence already tendered, a transcript of a police interview with the child’s mother, in which she renounces her care of the child.’
Judge nodded. ‘Thank you, Ms Allen.’
He lifted his chin at the prosecutor. ‘Madam Crown?’
‘Thank you, Your Honour.’ She stood.
Anna hadn’t expected that the prosecutor would question Prue. Oh shit. Would she try to trip her up?
‘Mrs Seybold, is your granddaughter at school now?’
‘Yes. She’s in prep at Nerang Public.’
‘And how is she going there?’
Where was the prosecutor heading? Had she spotted Anna and Prue smiling at each other in the waiting area, or read something in the way Prue looked at Anna in the courtroom?
‘Alright. The teacher says she’s settling in. She’s been more settled in the last month or so.’
She glanced at Anna, and Anna looked down at her lap.
‘Has your granddaughter said anything negative about the three months she spent near Mullumbimby with the offender?’
‘With Anna?’
‘Yes. With Anna.’ The prosecutor looked over at Anna. She had the pinched face of someone who ate too little or exercised too much.
Prue shook her head slightly. ‘No.’
Anna wondered if Charlie had said anything to Prue about Anna shouting at her that time.
‘So she’s indicated nothing negative to you?’
‘No.’
‘You said she didn’t want to be with you. How’s she settling in with you now?’
‘She’s settling.’
The prosecutor nodded. ‘Thank you, Mrs Seybold. No further questions, Your Honour.’
Anna watched Prue leave the court, the older woman’s face grim as she concentrated on pushing her walker along. She must be exhausted. It would have been an ordeal for her to get here today, even with the help of the young solicitor Lindy organised to meet her at Sydney Airport. Anna hoped it wouldn’t set her health back.
What if Prue got too unwell to take care of Charlie? If Anna was in jail, Charlie would go to a foster family, or Gabby might come back on the scene, wanting Charlie. Anna might get out of jail, only to find Charlie gone.
•
‘The girl looked very shaky when she arrived. She was wan, with dark rings under her eyes.’ Pat ran a finger under an eye. He looked scruffy in this environment, even in his grey suit and with combed hair. ‘She was thin and quite . . . edgy.’
Lindy asked, ‘Did you see a bruise on Charlie’s forearm?’
‘Yes. When she arrived. It was a dark, big bruise. Clearly quite painful.’
‘Did the girl require pain relief for the bruise?’
He nodded. ‘Anna gave her half a Panadol tablet – twice that I saw.’
‘How would you say Ms Pierce cared for the child?’
‘Very well. Very attentively. She made sure not to leave the child alone. She fed her well, and healthy food. She read her books and played with her. Charlie played a lot, she spent a lot of time in nature. Swimming and . . . playing.’
Anna had a rush of gratitude and love for Pat. She’d asked so much of him and he kept stepping up. And she still didn’t even know if Sabine had been found out by the police. After this was over, whatever the outcome, she would be able to talk to him and thank him again.
‘Did you accompany Ms Pierce and Charlie to hospital when the child was ill with fever and vomiting, on the twenty-sixth of February this year?’
‘Yes, I did.’
‘Mr Fenlan, how was the decision reached to take the child to hospital?’
‘Anna was very worried. She was worried something really bad was wrong with Charlie, and so we drove her down.’
‘By time the Ms Pierce was arrested on the second of March, how would you describe Charlie’s physical and emotional wellbeing?’
‘I saw her just a day before that and she seemed healthy and happy to me, as she had been for many weeks, apart from that brief illness. Anna took very good care of her and I observed considerable mutual regard and love.’
‘Thank you, Mr Fenlan. No further questions.’
‘Ms Allen,’ said the judge, ‘your client has gone to a great deal of trouble for this child and by all accounts formed a close relationship with the girl. What are your client’s intentions for contact with the child in the future?’
Lindy glanced down at Bridget then said, ‘I’ll seek instruction on that, Your Honour.’
Bridget hurried over to Anna in the dock and whispered, her voice barely audible, ‘He wants to know if you want to see Charlie in the future.’
‘What would be the best thing to say?’ Anna whispered back.
‘Well, best to say the truth but it’s probably best if the truth is that you don’t intend to have contact.’
Anna looked over to her dad, who was watching her.
‘The truth is, I would like to have contact, as long as that’s okay with her grandma.’
Bridget nodded and returned to Lindy and spoke quietly in her ear.
Lindy straightened. ‘Your Honour, my client would like to have contact with the child in the future, but only if such contact is agreeable to the child’s grandmother and, naturally, the child herself.’
The judge nodded and made a note. Anna probably should have said what Bridget suggested but surely it would seem implausible that she would walk away from Charlie after all that. The judge would have known that.
Except now Family and Community Services would know that Anna wanted contact. Lindy had said there might be someone from FACS in the gallery. Anna looked over. Was it the young woman with brown hair in a ponytail? Or the thin man in the back row?
There were so many people mustered here in this court room to reprimand Anna. How much did all this cost the state? And where were all these people when Charlie needed them? Anna let her mind drift while the prosecutor spoke. Whether she listened or not would make no difference now.
‘Madam Crown, do you submit that a suspended sentence would be to fall into error?’ The judge’s voice was loud.
The prosecutor said, ‘Not in the sense of an appealable error, Your Honour, but I maintain my submission.’
Lindy smiled, a small smile, but enough to make Anna hope that this meant a suspended sentence was likely.
‘Thank you, Ms Allen,’ said the judge. ‘Thank you, Madam Crown. I intend to deliberate now and sentence the offender this afternoon. Please remain in the court precinct.’
‘All rise,’ someone called. The judge walked from the bench and disappeared.
Lindy crossed to Anna. ‘That’s a surprise he’s sentencing so soon. I thought it wouldn’t be for a week or two.’ She put her hand on the edge of the dock. ‘How are you going?’
‘Does it bode well, him sentencing this afternoon?’ Anna didn’t have the energy to stand. Perhaps she could curl up on the floor in the bottom of the dock.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Lindy. ‘But it’s very good that he raised the prospect of a suspended sentence with the crown, and that the crown don’t think it would be an appealable error.’
‘So a suspended sentence is possible.�
�
‘Yes, definitely possible.’
‘But it’s also possible I might go to jail this afternoon.’
‘Yes. Also possible.’
Chapter Forty-four
She thought of the creek, of the sun glinting on the surface, and the muscular flow of the water around her knees as she waded out. Right this minute, even as the judge spoke, the creek on Pat’s property was rushing around the boulders and into the waterhole. Anna let the judge’s words wash around her. He had a pleasant voice but she didn’t try to understand what he was saying. He was talking about her but not in her language.
Anna looked over to Lindy, who had her eyes fixed on the bench. Lindy sat in a relaxed pose, her hands loose in her lap, but her face was tight. Anna had to move so she could see her dad because someone was sitting in front of him. The public gallery had more people in it now. Media, she guessed. Or stickybeaks. Her dad watched the judge intently; he wasn’t taking notes now.
If the judge sent her to jail, she’d think of the creek. She’d take herself to the creek every day, and imagine Charlie splashing about, and Macky too, and the encircling mountains.
‘. . . People are not allowed to take the law into their own hands and where they do, the courts regard such offences very seriously. We have a system of child protection in place in this state, and people who are able to professionally assess a child and their degree of risk.
‘However, there are numerous mitigating factors: the child was at risk and the offender had endeavoured to seek help through official channels, and there’s evidence, in this case, that their response was less than ideal. A most compelling mitigating factor is the way in which the child flourished in the care of the offender.’
Lindy had told Anna that if she got a suspended sentence, she should expect to hear from FACS after saying she wanted contact with Charlie. ‘Prue is her legal guardian so she can make decisions about who babysits or plays with Charlie. But raising it in court like that means that FACS, or the Queensland equivalent, will be obliged to check out if you’re suitable to spend time with Charlie. Maybe that’s why he did it, I don’t know.’
The judge coughed to one side of the microphone. ‘There is no need for specific or personal deterrence. I see no reason to be concerned that the offender would re-offend, given the unusual circumstances in which the offence was committed. However, it’s reasonable to hand down a sentence that offers general deterrence.
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