Vicious Circle (34 page)

‘He took out his penis…’

Seated at the defence table Carl Bannock covered his face with both hands and started to sob loudly. John Martius sprang to his feet.

‘Your Honour, my client is overcome by these accusations. I ask for your indulgence, and request a recess for him to recover.’

‘Mr Martius, by all the evidence your client is a powerful and determined individual. I am sure that he can endure a little longer. The witness may reply to the question.’

‘He took out his penis and forced it inside me, into my vagina.’ Bryoni gulped, and wiped at her eyes. ‘It was so sore. The worst pain ever I had. I screamed and struggled but he wouldn’t stop pushing it into me. Then Bonzo came and pulled him away, but the pain did not stop and I saw I was bleeding down there. Cookie came and held me close and told me that it was over and Carl would never be able to hurt me again. She said she wouldn’t let anybody hurt me again.’ Bryoni folded up in her chair and buried her face in her arms, sobbing brokenly.

‘No more questions, Your Honour,’ Melody Strauss said softly.

John Martius jumped to his feet.

‘Cross, Your Honour.’

‘The court will recess until ten o’clock tomorrow morning. You must reserve your cross-examination until then, Mr Martius.’

*

Henry Bannock, Ronnie Bunter and Bonzo Barnes were waiting outside the courtroom to meet Bryoni when she was released and they shepherded her through the mob of reporters and journalists that crowded the sidewalk and shouted questions at her. Bryoni held her head up high and looked straight ahead but her face was ashen and her lips trembled. She clung to her father’s arm. Bonzo Barnes broke trail for them, and his bulk and his scowl cleared a lane for them to the waiting limousine.

That evening Cookie brought Bryoni’s dinner to her bedroom on a tray and Henry sat beside her bed and talked to her while she ate. He told her how much he loved her, and how he wished he had been able to protect her and Sacha from the terrible things that Carl had done to them. He promised her that he would never let harm come to either of his daughters again.

Then he stayed with her and stroked her hair until she fell asleep.

At ten o’clock the next morning Bryoni was on the witness stand again. The courtroom was packed and in the press section there was standing room only. Bryoni had been briefed by both Melody Strauss and Ronnie Bunter so she ignored them completely and looked at her father in the front row of the public gallery, and at Bonzo and Cookie sitting three rows further back.

John Martius stood up from his seat at the defence table and came to stand in front of her.

‘You understand that I am going to ask you some questions, Bryoni?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘You don’t mind if I call you Bryoni?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Do you love your brother, Carl?’

‘Objection! The accused is not the witness’s brother.’ Melody paid him in his own coin.

‘I will rephrase,’ Martius conceded. ‘Do you love your half-brother, Carl?’

‘Perhaps I did once, but not since he raped me and Sacha, I don’t, sir.’ A buzz of approbation swept the courtroom at this and Judge Chamberlain rapped his gavel and said sternly, ‘Silence in court, if you please.’

‘Did you ever ask him to kiss you?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Are you saying you never kissed Carl?’

‘I said I never asked him to kiss me, sir.’

‘Did you ever kiss him?’

‘Carl and I just naturally kissed cheeks to say hello or goodbye, like everybody does, sir.’

‘Did you ever ask Carl to kiss you on the mouth, Bryoni?’

‘No, sir. Why would I do that?’

‘Just answer my questions, please, Bryoni. Did you ever put your tongue in Carl’s mouth when he kissed you?’

‘Objection! Witness has already testified that she never kissed the defendant on the mouth,’ Melody pointed out.

‘Objection sustained,’ Judge Chamberlain said. ‘Counsel will withdraw that question.’

‘Question withdrawn.’ Martius bowed slightly to the judge, and then turned back to Bryoni. ‘Did you ever enter the bathroom when Carl was showering, Bryoni?’

‘No, sir. I have my own bathroom. I never went to Carl’s bathroom.’

‘Did you ever walk into Carl’s bedroom when you knew he was changing?’

‘No, sir. I have my own bedroom. I have never been to his bedroom.’

‘Never?’

‘Never, sir.’

‘What would you reply if I told you that Carl says that you wanted to watch him shower, and that you once went to his room at night and climbed into bed with him?’

‘Objection! Asked and answered! Witness has testified that she has never been in the accused’s bedroom.’

‘Objection sustained. Counsel will withdraw the question.’

‘I withdraw the question, Your Honour.’ But he was well pleased; he had placed a seed in the minds of the jury. He consulted his own notes for a moment, and then looked up at Bryoni.

‘Did you ever ask your half-brother Carl if he would like to see your breasts?’

Melody Strauss seemed on the point of objecting, but then she remained silent, and she let Bryoni reply spontaneously and tellingly.

‘I don’t have any breasts, sir. Not yet, anyway.’ She looked genuinely puzzled when two of the jurymen laughed out loud, but it was kindly laughter, without any trace of mockery. Two or three of the female jury members frowned in disapproval of their male counterparts’ levity.

Henry Bannock saw that Melody had withheld her objection deliberately. It was a shrewd decision. He hoped the jury would punish Martius for harassing a child, especially a pretty one.

Martius had taken a gamble when he introduced the element of female enticement. Now he knew it was a losing bet, and he changed tack at once.

‘Do you know that your father had such a high opinion of your half-brother Carl that he formally adopted him as his own son, and after Carl achieved singular distinction at Princeton he gave him a highly paid and responsible job at Bannock Oil Corporation?’

‘Yes, sir, of course I knew. Everybody knew.’

‘Did this make you think that your father loved Carl more than he loved you? Did it make you very jealous? Did it make you and your sister Sacha decide to make up hurtful stories about Carl?’

‘My daddy loves me, sir.’ She looked at Henry Bannock and she smiled. ‘One of the reasons that my daddy loves me is because I always tell him the truth. He wouldn’t love me so much if I lied to him.’

Henry Bannock smiled back at his daughter and nodded affirmation of her declaration. His craggy and obdurate features softened.

‘No further questions for this witness, Your Honour.’ John Martius realized he had been bested by a child and he decided to retreat in some sort of order.

‘Thank you, Bryoni,’ Judge Chamberlain told her. ‘You have been very brave. You may go to your father now.’

Henry Bannock came to meet his daughter and placed one arm protectively around her shoulders. He shot a last vitriolic look at his adoptive son and then led Bryoni from the courtroom. Bryoni clung to him and began to weep quietly but bitterly.

Melody Strauss called her next witness. She was the police physician who had examined Bryoni on the fateful evening. Her name was Doctor Ruth MacMurray. She was mature and grey-haired, composed and quietly spoken.

‘Doctor MacMurray, did you examine Bryoni Lee Bannock on the evening of August fifteenth last in the emergency room at Houston University Hospital?’

‘I did.’

‘Can you please relate to this court your findings at the time, Doctor?’

‘The subject was a prepubescent female. She presented with superficial facial injuries consistent with having been struck with the hand. There was contusion and swelling of the left eye. There was also laceration of the soft tissue of the mouth. In addition the left incisor and first premolar teeth had been loosened by trauma.’

‘Were there any other bodily injuries?’

‘Yes, indeed. There was extensive bruising of both upper arms and throat.’

‘What would that bruising indicate to you, Doctor?’

‘It would indicate that the subject had probably been forcibly restrained by being held by the upper arms, and that she had in addition been held by the throat either in an attempt to strangle her or to prevent her crying out.’

‘Thank you, Doctor MacMurray. Did you find any other injuries?’

‘The subject showed all the symptoms of her genitalia being penetrated by a large rigid object.’

‘Were these injuries consistent with the immature subject having been forcibly penetrated by a mature and erect human penis?’

‘They were entirely consistent with that possibility. The hymen had very recently been ruptured and was still bleeding. The perineum between the vagina and the anus had been torn and had to be surgically repaired. In addition there was internal tearing and rupturing of the lower vaginal wall which also required repair.’

‘In your opinion were these injuries consistent with the subject having been raped?’

‘In my opinion these injuries were entirely consistent with aggravated rape and forcible penetration of the genitalia.’

‘Did you manage to collect samples of the bodily fluid that you found in the subject’s vagina, Doctor?’

‘I collected thirteen swabs from the damaged vagina. And blood samples from the subject’s clothing.’

‘What were the findings from the pathologic examinations of these samples, Doctor?’

‘In the case of the clothing samples two types of blood were found to be present. One was AB-negative and the other Opositive.’

‘Do these match with the blood of the accused and the victim, Doctor?’

‘Carl Bannock is blood type AB-negative, and Bryoni Bannock is type Opositive.’

‘Is type O a rare or is it a common blood type, Doctor?’

‘It is the most common type. About forty per cent of human beings are type O.’

‘And type AB-negative; is it rare or common, Doctor?’

‘It is the rarest blood type; possessed by only one per cent of humans.’

‘So does that mean that there is a forty to one chance of the AB-negative blood samples belonging to Carl Bannock, the accused?’

‘I am not a bookmaker, madam. I would not be able to quote you exact odds. I will say, however, that there is a much higher chance that the AB-negative blood samples belong to Carl Bannock than to anybody else on earth.’

‘Thank you, Doctor. My next question is regarding the swab samples you took from Bryoni Bannock’s vagina, Doctor. What were the pathological results of these swabs?’

‘In each case without exception both blood and seminal fluid were present.’

‘What was the blood type or types, Doctor?’

‘Only type Opositive.’

‘That is Bryoni Bannock’s blood type, is it not?’

‘Yes, it is.’

‘Now, Doctor, was there any other bodily fluid on the swabs that you took from Bryoni Bannock’s vagina?’

‘Yes, there was also male seminal fluid present.’

‘Male seminal fluid? Was the pathologist able to establish a match to the samples collected from Carl Bannock, the accused?’

‘The seminal fluid taken from Bryoni Bannock’s vagina was an eighty to ninety per cent match to those samples provided by Carl Bannock for the police surgeon.’

‘How were these samples tested against each other, Doctor?’

‘Three techniques were applied: the RSID strip test, the PSA test and the acid phosphatase test.’

‘Thank you, Doctor. I have no more questions,’ Melody told her, and looked across at John Martius.

‘Your witness, sir.’

‘No questions,’ Martius said without looking up from his trial brief.

Judge Chamberlain glanced at the courtroom clock before he instructed Melody. ‘Please call your next witness, Miss Strauss.’

‘The prosecution calls Mrs Martha Honeycomb.’ Cookie stood up from her bench in the public gallery and made her way down the aisle towards the witness box. Despite the advice from Melody Strauss that she should wear subdued clothing, Cookie had not been able to resist the temptation to wear her finery for the occasion. On her head she had a tiny straw hat set at a jaunty angle and a small black veil over one eye. Her dress was patterned in large sunflowers which had the effect of emphasizing the size of her posterior. Her white shoes were very high heeled, which made walking a little awkward.

Once she was seated in the witness box Melody Strauss led her through a brief account of her relationship to the Bannock family.

‘How long have you worked for Mr Henry Bannock?’

‘Since I left school, ma’am.’

‘How long have you known Bryoni Bannock, Mrs Honeycomb?’

‘You can call me Cookie, ma’am. Everybody else does.’

‘Thank you, Cookie. How long have you known Bryoni, Cookie?’

‘Since the day she were born. Cutest little thing she were, too.’

‘And her brother, Carl. How long have you known him?’

Cookie swivelled her large frame around and glared at Carl sitting at the defence table. ‘Since the day he come to live by our house, and a sad and sorry day that were too, though none of us knowed that at the time. We all thought he were a good little fella.’

‘Counsel, please ask your witness to confine herself to answering the questions.’

‘Did you hear the judge, Cookie?’

‘Sorry, ma’am. Mr Bannock also say I talk too much.’

Judge Chamberlain coughed and covered his mouth with one hand to smother both the cough and his grin. Melody Strauss led Cookie through the events leading up to her and Bonzo’s rescue of Bryoni from Carl’s attack, and to his arrest by the State Police.

‘How did you know that the accused had gone upstairs to his sister’s room?’

‘Bonzo and I hear him coming up the driveway in that fancy machine his daddy give him for his birthday. Then we hear Bryoni calling to him from her room to come up ’cos she wanna talk to him.’

‘Then what happened, Cookie?’

‘We hear Master Carl running up the stairs and the door to Bryoni’s bedroom slam. Then there silence for a long while. Then Bonzo and me hear Carl shouting like he going out of his head. I say, “Bonzo we better go see what they up to.” But Bonzo he say, “Man, they just arguing like always. You and me, better we leave them to get on with it. I am going to polish the Cadillac for when Mr Bannock come home,” and off he go down the stairs.’