₦airaland Forum

simonhabby:
The judgment lasted for about thirty minutes. The entire court room was silent. The court remained silent even after the judgment had been pronounced. It wasn’t a high-profile case, but that was not the reason for the unusual silence. Everybody was silent because nobody was sure whether the judgment was in their favour or against them.
 
To the family of Akinwale, who were the victims in this case, justice had not been served. There was nothing to be jubilant about in the judgment. A drunk driver had knocked down their breadwinner in the prime of his career. They were not clamouring for a murder case. Everybody knew that it was manslaughter. But they believed that such careless act should carry a minimum punishment of ten years behind the bars. They were almost consoled when the judge handed him a punishment of seven years prison term but was disappointed when he gave an option of a fine. They couldn’t understand why a man that carelessly turned sour their happy home should be allowed to walk free just for a fine of a million naira, not even for all the naira in the Central Bank.
 
The option of fine would have triggered jubilation in the camp of Leke. Everybody knew he was guilty. Everybody on his side in the court that day was only hoping for a miracle. Even the best lawyer could not save him in that case and he could not even afford the service of the worst lawyer. He had to use the government-appointed lawyer, and the poor man tried his best. The case had already been lost at the spot of the incident.
 
Leke was drunk that night and was driving his boss’ car. Medical tests showed a high level of alcohol in his blood. The CCTV camera at the party he was coming from showed that he drank more than eight bottles of beer that day. At the time of the accident, he was driving at a speed of 180 k/hr in a region that had a limit of 80km/hr and he had no driving license. No lawyer could win such a case.
So, at the mention of the option of one million naira fine, his lawyer felt relieved. He believed that he had saved him from going to prison. But Leke didn’t believe the same. To him, the option was useless because there was no way he could get such amount of money. He had no relative and among his friends that had come to witness the case, he knew that only Precious, his girlfriend, could make any attempt to look for the money. And even if the fine had been one-tenth of what it was, he was sure that Precious could never get it. She was a student and her parents were as poor as church rats, maybe, poorer.
 
The judge gave him seven days ultimatum to pay the money or go to prison but if the judge had given seven month ultimatum, the prison option would still be the only feasible option for him.
 
Everybody remained quiet. Nobody jubilated. Quietly, members of the Akinwale family stood up and headed towards their cars. Without making any open comment on the judgment, they drove away.
Leke’s lawyer went to where Leke’s friends were standing. He wanted to know their decision. Leke too was escorted by the police towards them. He knew he couldn’t afford a kobo, so he kept quiet.
 
“What are you going to do?” the lawyer asked.
 
“Of course, we are going to pay the fine,” Precious replied as if she had the money in her bank account.  
 
Jennifer wanted to talk but Annabel gently tapped her. Everybody knew Jennifer didn’t know what not to say.
 
“We have seven days,” the lawyer said.
 
“Yes, how much can you guys get?” Precious asked facing a group of Leke’s friends.
 
The young men looked at one another, and then Sam replied “We can’t say now, but we will try our best.”
 
“I know you won’t be able to say. Look, it is everybody’s concern; don’t heap everything on Precious’ head alone. You guys should go and look for half a million naira and we girls will look for the remaining half,” Jennifer said.
 
Leke remained quiet. It was his life and future that they were discussing and unfortunately, he couldn’t contribute to it. He had no dime. There was nothing he could sell to earn any amount of money and he had nobody to go to for favour.
 
The police officer told the lawyer that it was time for Leke to be returned to custody.
 
“Let’s meet at my office tomorrow morning,” the lawyer said and called off the meeting.