I re-member the man in the dock.
We know from stories we have heard that Christopher Walker has been in care. No family is sitting behind us in the court, praying that somehow he’ll get off. He looks so lonely, so different to how I imagined him. He is big, but he has a gentle face, though he seems older than his eighteen years. He is wearing a suit. He doesn’t look comfortable in it and the sleeves are too short. He glances round the court, looking scared, as if he can’t understand why he is there. The policeman says he punched Cal for no reason. Whenever anyone speaks against him, he flinches and looks down. He pulls the hem of his shirt out of the waistband of his trousers in his agitation. He wrings the front of it. He doesn’t know how to deal with this. He doesn’t know what’s going on. The prosecution barrister tells the court he was uncontrollable in his rage, animal in his ferocity. The defence barrister says he’s never had a chance in life. I look at him and see that he has nothing, he has nobody. Having nobody makes you guilty of something.
Lydia is called to be a witness. She is calm, but her testimony doesn’t add up. The defence barrister points out inconsistencies half-heartedly. He has another trial next week, one that isn’t legal aid. If this one doesn’t finish soon, he’ll miss a big fat fee. Lydia is asked if the man in the dock is the man who struck Cal. Yes, she says, refusing to look at Christopher. She can’t face him. He stares at her in disbelief, silently begging her to tell the truth. He is afraid that he will be going to prison for something that he didn’t do. Fear makes him sweat. This will tell against him. It makes him look nervy, guilty. No one will see that he is just afraid; they will be afraid of him instead. He opens his jacket because he is so hot and scared. He’s been told by his barrister before the trial that he must stay calm but he can’t, he is desperate now, he thinks he’s going to be convicted of something that he didn’t do. When Lydia sheds tears, he knows that he is done for.
The judge’s summing-up is biased. It is grounds for appeal, but no one has the will to see Christopher Walker free. The jury deliberates, but his fate was sealed before they even retired. For two days, he hopes against hope that they won’t convict him.
GUILTY, the foreman of the jury says.
Nobody sheds any tears.
On the front page of the Daily Express there is a photograph of Christopher Walker, staring into a camera – hair wild, eyes bulging – monstrous, like the Incredible Hulk.