Justice Part 1

All rise.

Miss Mary Okoronkwo versus State

“Do you swear to tell this court the truth and nothing but the truth”?
“Yes, i swear to tell this court nothing but the truth”?
“So help me God”

It was alleged that on the 17th day of July 2004, the accused Miss Mary Okoronkwo attacked the deceased Mrs Agatha Noel with cutlass in her house with the intention to cause body damage which resulted in the death of the deceased. The accused after attacking the deceased with cutlass went further and poured acid on her. According to the autopsy result, the acid was the main cause of death as the deceased sustained a first degree burn.

“Objection my Lord”! The defense attorney shouted.

“Objection overruled” declined the preceding Judge.

My client acted on self defense, she did not attacked the deceased but fought her when the deceased allegedly attacked her on that fateful day with the cutlass and the acid was never poured by my client, according to eyewitness, there was a second party in the fight though the Police are yet to track the person.

The Judge ordered all to be quite through the court’s clerk.
“Do you have anything to say before the Judge pronounce the Judgment” asked the prosecutor.
“Remember that you are under oath”.

Mary whipping her tears with the piece of scarf she had on her then began her story. Listen to what she said:

I was 16yrs old when i was brought from the village to come and live with aunty to serve as a waitress in her restaurant, she was like a mother to me and made sure that i lacked nothing, she gave me equal treatment with Stephanie and Jennifer her two daughters who are a year older than me, i was good in mathematics and wanted to go to school so one day aunty told me that my dream to be an account will come true because she had decided to sponsor me academically and will send me overseas to pursue my goal.

This was like Haven on Earth for my mother who single handedly was taking care of the five of us before i was brought to aunty, my father died when i was 2yrs and i am the last in the family. It was my birthday present because i turned 17yrs exactly the day aunty broke the news. My poor mother came down to the city to see me before my departure to USA, aunty told her that i will be safe because i will stay with her elder sister who was a nurse in New York and that my school fees for the five years course has been paid.
We departed Nigeria on the 6th of August 2003, there was two other girls in our company. I was glad to be on the aeroplane, it was a pleasant trip.

“Where is this”? i asked aunty when we disembarked from the plane.
“This is Milan, Italy, we will stay overnight here because of some complications connecting to New York” she told me.
We were greeted by someone at the airport and he drove us to a house, two days later, aunty called me to notify me that my student visa was not processed so i won’t be going to USA anymore, she told me that she will enroll me into a university in Milan instead. I was happy anyway because to me, it doesn’t matter even if i have to study in Nigeria, all that matters to me was to go to school.
“What of the money you paid the school in USA”? i asked her
She told me that she will get it back through the agent who was supposed to get my visa. I pitied aunty, knowing how much she had suffered to make me somebody.

“I love you aunty and may God always bless you”, I told her.

The nest day, she introduced me to Gladys who was a resident of Italy.

“Gladys will fix you up” she told me before leaving for the airport to return back to Nigeria. That same evening barely four hours after aunty left, Gladys called me into the living room, there were two white Men and a black man with her, they were all speaking Italian so i did not understood nothing that was spoken. Moments later, Gladys asked me to go with the men,i was happy because inside me,i believed that they might be people from the university which aunty told me about, i knew within me that i don’t have to worry about speaking Italian because it won’t take me time to master the language.

The men took me to a home, they began drinking beer when we got there and all of a suddenly, the younger one undressed himself, i was confused and didn’t know what to do or what will happen next then he came towards me, began touching me all over, he tried to kiss me but i stopped him then he pushed me, i saw that he was angry, i sensed it from his voice. I began to cry and as i wanted to shout, the older one grabbed me from behind and they tore my cloths and held me down. That was the day i lost my virginity. They raped me.

They used me repeatedly then around 4am,the black guy i saw with them earlier on came to the house and picked me, he almost beat me despite the blood all over me and my cry, he didn’t want to hear anything from me. All he kept shouting at me inside the car was.

“Na so una go dey shout,carry me go and when una reach here,una go begin dey fuck up”

That was when i knew that this macho man was a Nigeria.

“Brother please help me, i am in pains, please take me to the airport, i want to go back to Nigeria”, i pleaded

We got to the house and Gladys was waiting by the car park.
“You Idiot” she yelled, “you wan spoil show for me? E no go better for you at all. You wan do ashawo and you go dey fuck up”

I could not utter a word because i was very weak and afraid. This abuse continued this way for the next six months, i was treated like a prisoner, i could not communicate with aunty, at a time, i felt like killing myself but something was indie me and always wave aside that thought to commit suicide each time it came into me. My Lord, i was forced on daily basis to go and sleep with men so on the 10th of February 2004, aunty visited Italy, i explained the whole ordeal to her and she told me that she knew nothing about it. I had a serious discussion with her and afterward, i said to her.


Ride on to Part two......