Their mistake

"I say to you that he's guilty of the charges pressed against him today because not only do we have witnesses but also a substantial evidence to prove that he's responsible for the assault of the 14 year old victim on the 3rd , February 2004 ,exactly 8: 00 pm at the earnest street " the attorney paced through the courtroom In front of the judge who was reasoning with what was been said by him currently.

"The victim left her house in a rush to get some drugs to save her mother when he double-crossed her when she was only few miles to the pharmacy she was headed to and carried on with his detestable acts and not only assaulted her but ruined her future ,I plead to the court this afternoon that the judge should consider the young girl and her suffering and sentence the criminal the right way " he paused " I'll recommend 200 years to keep the citizens at rest because this is not his first act " he said and the attorney next to him rose up .

"Objection my lord !" He called "Objection sustained " the judge said and the previous attorney sat down with almost a grumble .

" I'll like to proceed with some invitations and if the court will allow ..permit me to invite some witnesses " he said "permission granted " the judge responded and he turned to the audience and a short man approached in a brown suit fading trouser and a casual white with red stripes shirt ,he approached the attorney.

" Do you swear that whatever you say in this courtroom will only be the truth and nothing else but the truth ?" He asked "i do!" He responded "Take a stand" he said and the witness walked into the plank box .

"i appreciate you for your service " he said and the witness nodded "can you tell me where the suspect was at exactly 8 : 00 pm " he asked " he was at my shop " he answered clearly "what do you sell ?" He asked "i sell drinks and snacks " he replied "What did he get from you ?" He asked "he bought a non-alcoholic drink from me and drank it in my shop " he said "and what were you discussing ?" He asked "we were discussing on how he wanted to change and turn a new leaf " he said and he smiled .

" Your job is done " he said and the man walked back to seat among the audience and the attorney faced the judge with a smile " Allow me to invite my last witness for today who also happens to be a family to the suspect" he urged and the judge granted the permission .

The young and agile man that was obviously in is 60's approached the court and faced the attorney "i heard that your son is not standing in a courtroom as a suspect for the first time , how true is that ?" The attorney asked " It's true " he said .

" Can you explain how that happened ?" The attorney requested " When he was young ,he was involved in drugs and could barely get a grip of his control so he raped a lady when he was not in his right senses" he said "okay , you're his father ?" He said more of a question "yes" the man replied .

" Your job is done " the attorney said in more of a dismissal and the previous attorney stood up again and asked the judge to permit him to ask some questions from the father and his request was granted which made the defense attorney sigh .

He could read that this was not headed to a right junction ,he was terrified of this kind of situation happening because this case was never an easy case to defend because the suspect is a serial rapist .

He was apprehended years ago and after serving his 10 years , he was released and then he went in on it again and this attorney defending the victim is not an amateur attorney ,he's very good and he doesn't have a concrete evidence to just claim that his client is not guilty so he had been praying that he'll give up but clearly he's not ready for that.

"Is he still doing drugs ?" He asked " no " he replied "What proofs that ?" He asked " he was directed to a therapist to help him get over drugs and he's been abstained from it since he came back from prison " "lord ,permit me to invite a doctor who can help she'd more light to this matter " he said and the judge granted him permission , the woman walked to the attorney in her corporate long blue skirt , light pink shirt and her heels clicking to the ground in a soft manner and the man returned back to his position.

She swore and took her stand "is it possible to actually completely withdraw from drugs when you're addicted to it for more than 10 years ?" He asked "it's not possible " she said , she would have loved to explain more but she's not sure the attorney will allow because he just needed one clear answer .

"If you attempt to actually withdraw ,can it have some side effects because I learnt it can lead to some kind of disorder" he said "yes ,it can lead to the patient developing a kind of disorder which I'll call a psychological disorder" she said " and how does that work ?" He asked "well ..it makes a patient hallucinate ..in which he will see things that are not actually there ..it lead to loss of energy and the person will in one word ..be crazy " she explained "Okay ..is there a way to regain that strength back all of a sudden,?" He asked .

" Yes ..if the person drinks or eat some energy foods and drinks " she explained "Okay ..so if the person eats / drinks energy food or drink ...he'll gain his energy back " he asked "yes " she replied curtly "can it also do some other things ?" He asked "it can also make the person crave his past self back " she said "okay ..so you're saying that if I try to withdraw from drugs and I drink some energy drinks ..I can suddenly get the urge to rape a young lady when I see one like I've once done and I won't have the power to change that motive ?" He asked "yes !" She replied and he smiled "i guess your work is done ..thank you for your Co-operation" he said and she beamed a little before approaching her past seat .

" With that said ..allow me to bring in my last witness today who happened to actually get a sight of what actually happened " he said and the defense attorney knew there was no way out any longer, the only eye witnesse was there after all.

"I heard that you saw what happened ?" He asked "yes !" She replied "Do you think you can explain to the court what actually happened? " He asked " yes !" She said "Then ..please..proceed " he said and she faced the judge with confidence to begin her explanations.

" I was on my way home at night when I heard the muffled cry of a young girl, I ran behind the bush to witness the scene and he was there , I couldn't come outside due to the gear of being hurt because he is much bigger than me and there's no way for me to Save the young girl even if I attempted to so I called the cops but they only came when he had defiled the young girl" she explained.

"Where were you when he was raping her ?" He asked "i ran farther " she said "you mentioned that you were scared because he was bigger than you , is there any more reason to your fear apart from what you just said ?" He asked "i recognized him as the rapist that was apprehended before, so I knew what he was capable of" she said with pity for the young girl sitting back there, among the audience, yes ,that was there she was .

"You can return , thanks for your Co-operation" she said and the woman returned "with all being said ,I'll like to tell you what happened ,the suspect lacking energy and bought a drink , he discussed on how he wanted to change but it was impossible for him because the drink already affected him , he was walking home ,not in full control of his system ,came across the young girl that wanted to get drug for her mother and saw it as an opportunity to get an hold of himself again ,so he defiled her and thought he was going to go Scott free but there was an eye witness that already informed the cops and that was the only way he had been caught "he paused after giving this scenario of the situation.

"This makes us understand that no matter how hard hell love to change , he just can't meaning he's a danger to the society " "Objection my lord! " the defense counsel called "Objection overruled" the judge said and he sat down back in defeat .

"He's a danger to the society so I'll urge the court to consider the agony and cries of the young girl and family and also consider the lives they could save by just putting a man behind bars ,as stated earlier, I'll recommend 200 years" he said and sat down .

The prosecutor sat down gallantly in assurance that he was winning the case obviously.

"Do you have any more things to say ?" The judge asked and the defense counsel stood up "I'll urge the court to pity my clients determination to change and turn a new leaf and reduce the years " he said and he sat down .

The attorney stood up "I'll like the court to not have mercy on the suspect because of a determination that's not enough, if he gets out , he'll do more harm to the society " he said and sat down .

They were all there for her , yeah ,she was the root of the situation , he was sentenced to 150 years imprisonment but will she ever get the happiness she deserved , her lawyer won the case so there was no reason to fear .

She had thought she was scared of not getting justice and putting the society in danger , she was scared of teenagers like her that might experience such an ordeal but he was there and he is going to be there for life but she was not happy , no , she had never been really happy .

What was there to make her happy , she was raped at the age of 14 , her mother died when she was 15 and she was already with her baby ,her mother wasn't privileged enough to meet her grand daughter before she died , she lost her best friend and her first love and she's left with her daughter ,Diane Rachel Jane .

People thought her life had no meaning anymore, they had thought she had no future and her dreams had shattered right after she was defiled ,they had all thought she had no hope and her life was going to be miserable till she leaves the earth ,she wasn't only striving for the survival of 1 at such a tender age ,she was also saving her daughter ,so she'll probably quit education and maybe become a slut or any menial job she could get all I'm search for money but they were wrong .

She was going to do all she can to make it , if she's to lose all around her ,she doesn't care , people were never destined to stand by you forever, they were all destined to come and go with an impact in your life ,but she was not going to let someone destroy her future ,and if she had to be alone with her daughter to achieve that then she will .

She attended college and she did all the works she could do to make her way through college and she never allowed any man go in her , she might have lost her dignity but her pride existed , her determination was not missing and her goals and dreams were alive .

She made it through college and she was good and today , she owns one of the top 10recognized advertising company in the United States , the Mary Jane corporations and she's doing perfectly well with her daughter.

*****

"Thank you sweet Jesus " she said after saying her usual alone morning prayers , one thing she can never miss in the morning is thanking her beloved mighty father for the gift of life and her daily scaling if new heights , to him alone indeed be all the glory and adoration.

She stood up and walked towards her daughters room ,she's probably stoll laid flat on her bed waiting for her to wake her up again even though she had reminded hercountless times that she was not a child any more bit for some weird reason ,she still turns off the alarm whenever it sounds at 4.

She knocked on the Door and as usual ,she only heard the grunt which she had concluded had meant 'mom , let me rest some more' and she is not allowing that even if she was aware of how unfair it might seem to her because it's only 5 and she could have slept more , but she has to get to work before 7 and she can't leave her home alone , so she has no choice .

She opened the door and she was lying on her face on her bed as predicted "Diane honey ,get out of bed " she called making it sound more like a begging "Mom ,can't i sleep a little longer ?" She asked "you won't be able to , I'm sorry honey ,but I promise you that when you get back from school ,you can make up for that " she said and she looked at her before sitting up making Mary wonder what she considered before getting up .

"Fine ma " she said in defeat ,"okay ,let's pray " she said and she held her hand ,yeah ,they both have to pray before leaving the house in the morning and she doesn't want it to be too long so as to avoid Diane impatience so they just say the Lord's prayer every morning ,she really doesn't want to give Diane any reason to avoid praying with her every morning .

"Our father who hath who art In heaven, hallow be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil, for thou is the kingdom, your power and your glory, forever and ever, Amen! " They both said in unison except that Diane voice reflected her urge to fall on her bed and start dreaming once again.

" Thank you for making life easier for me, Diane" she said with with a slight smile and the girl nodded and pecked her mother before rising to her feet ,heading to get dressed so as to avoid keeping her waiting because Mary will never leave without Diane .

She loves her mother and it was reciprocal , she was her mother's everything , her mother has no family members, no friends or someone that involves a personal and emotional relationship except with her ,the only relationship that existed in her mother's life was among colleagues and business associates which was normal for a business nerd ,I guess .

Mary stood up and walked back into her room to change and after a few minutes , she was standing in front of her mirror ,already dressed in a blue top and a black long skirt that was just few inches after her knee , she brushed her brown curvy hair to a side , revealing her not too pointed nose and the rose -coloured lip stick she applied which made her gorgeous.

That was her mode of dressing , she doesn't dress to please anyone but herself ,it had always given her more self confidence ever since she learned to spend on herself ,gone are those as when she had to work in the laundry in the midnight and work in the cafe till 6 , go home and prepare for an online examination which she had to pass to achieve her dream.

Gone are those days she barely ate and had to give all the food she was able to buy to satisfy her daughter and use the rest to get her some clothes ,gone are those days when she couldn't afford to clothe herself because she was too occupied with fending for her daughter and paying for her tuition .

Gone are all those days people pitied her ,stretching a finger to describe her as the unfortunate victim the other night ,she has worked and she has achieved her dream , she has burned all candles that are needed and she has sacrificed a lot of relationship in her life so it was time to enjoy herself .

No one will ever look at her as that girl anymore ,they now see her as Mary Jane, the founder and ceo of The Mary Jane corporations ,one of the biggest advertising company in the whole of America and not only ambitious but successful ,she has planted her seeds under the hot sun and rain ,it was time to enjoy her labour ,not only fate had been on her side but God had stood by her firmly and made her who she was today.

She took up her perfume and sprayed it around her before moving gallantly towards the dinning room ,she had to prepare some breakfast for her daughter after all and a toast bread with egg and tea should suffice .

She knocked on the Door to call her after preparing the table and Diane was refusing to show up "Honey ,breakfast is served " she called and she opened the door and hugged her mother ,yeah ,she's so caring .

She led her to the table and she took one toast to do justice to it , staring at diane makes her remember what she had always wondered which is why Diane never asked about her father ,every child was always curious about their father especially when their friend introduce them to their fathers , it always made them question who their father was .

She had asked her mother that same question after coming home from a friend's house ,she wondered if he was dead or he had abandoned her mother ,she really never cared about how it happened ,she just wanted her mother to at least tell her something about him instead of acting like she gave birth to her alone .

When she asked her , it had put her in great thought before she explained that her father died in a car accident when she was 3 years of age and she has regretted asking that question because her mother was depressed through out that day and the thought that she was responsible for that , was saddening.

This can make her understand what her mother went through but her father died ,Diane father was not dead ,his situation is worse and she was never going to tell her what really happened even if she asks no matter how she hated to lie to her daughter because she can't allow her daughter go through the experience she has been going through even though 15 years has passed.

"Ma ,why are you not eating? " she asked in a careful tone which made Mary get back to herself "Nothing ,I was just admiring the gift God gave to me " even if it wasn't through the right way , Diane smiled and she finally ate before her daughter asked her the same question again.

She drove the car and parked in front of the school , Diane got down after pecking her mother and she ran inside the school without looking back ,she don't know but she kinda misses her already , she just loved the idea of staring at her all day .

She had to let go anyways ,she had seen her at home so she probably thought there was no need to look back again ,Mary ignited her car and drove off with the hope of 'she might come back ' but who was she kidding and she also have to get to work .

She parked her car in the company garage and she got down , carrying her black bag and a folder in her hand that contains ideas she has towards towards a project they were working on currently , they were advertising a perfume that was just out .

She walked towards the door and the door opened itself , the staffs greeted her and continued working , this is the kind of environment she always enjoyed , where everyone is so busy working , it shows that she wasn't wasting her money .

She approached her office and sighted her personal assistant that was seated lazily on the chair like he had no intention of working today or he had thought he was still in his home .

"Theo " she said and he hurriedly got on his feet "Good morning ma " he said "Are you tired and maybe need a check up in the hospital ?" She asked pretending to be worried and he knew that also "No ma ,I'm okay " she said .

"Then what's the meaning of this in the morning , if you're tired of your job here, I'll gladly welcome a resignation letter at this point but sleeping on duty is something I'm definitely not accommodating " she said and he nodded .

"I'm sorry ma " he said with his head bowed a little "Don't apologize , I need a change " she said "I'll change ma" he said "i want action not words" she said and he nodded , he was only employed here to remind me of appointments incase I forgot about them and how Will he do that if he's laid on his chair with his eyes closed .

"When I'm I meeting with Mr Downey? " she asked , he's the man that wants them to advertise a product for him and for some reason ,he wanted to keep it a secret and discuss with me alone because I'm the boss and be needs absolute assurance but she knows him so it can't be a problem .

"it's by 12 ma " he said and she checked her watch ,it's only 7 :12 " okay , inform all staffs to assemble in the meeting room by 8 and I want to hear great ideas towards our current projects " she said "okay ma " he said and she walked into her office and sat down on her chair ,dropping her folder on the table to review some of her ideas , she has a lot of work in front or her and she also needs to come up with ideas also .

******

" He was caught with the possessions of drugs that is worth of €13,000 and according to Section 15 of misuse of drugs Act 1997 , I recommend 8 years imprisonment " he said and sat down In his position , there was no more defending by his lawyer ,he works for Gary firm and makes sure that criminals are put behind bars ,that's what he does .

"i declare Mr.Smith Corey guilty and to be sent to state prison where he'll spend 8 years" the judge said and he hit his hammer on the table and all the people rose up while the criminal was lead to where he was meant to be from the very start .

Mike shook with the person beside him , he can't call him partner ,they're more of enemies so he's not sure he's allowed to call him partner. He walked out of the court room and entered his car after removing his gown and wig ,exposing his black ,neatly ironed black suit that looked like he born with it.

He sat down and tried to arrange his black hair that was few inches to his collar , making him look more attractive but that was the least on his mind ..he needed to get to work as fast as he can to get prepared for another case that was happening tomorrow afternoon .

He was the best in the firm so he was mostly consulted which made him busy most times and it wasn't like he had something or someone he had to attend to when he gets back so he was less busy , no agendas or appointments except with clients of course.

He walked into the office and his friend greeted him with an handshake "How was court today ,would have known but you don't show it "he said "it was successful" he said and he smiled "who was i kidding like you had ever lost " he said .

"Stop it ..it makes me feel like I might one day " Mike said "you won't , don't worry, I'm with you " he said making it sound like he was his back rest when he was never there whenever he had to turn his lamp and go through papers ,looking for something that'll prove that the criminal was never mistaken for his identity .

"Thanks " he said and they hugged each other before he left , he smiled and headed to his office ,he has his office because (In his boss' s tone) 'is the star of his firm ' , Noelle walked into his office "boss wants to see you " she said "okay ,thank you " he said and she went back with a smile that made him smile back also .

He knocked on the Door "come in " he called and he entered , Mr. Gary was a man in his late 50's and he always wondered why he wasn't married and should have had kids but that was for him to worry about and none of his concern .

He stood up immediately he entered and ushered him to sit down on his chair "Mr .Ross ,you're highly welcome " he said and he wasn't surprised by that gesture , that's what he does