‘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‘Question withdrawn.’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.’
‘So he left you alone in the kitchen and then what happened, Cookie?’
‘Then there was a bit of quiet, and suddenly Miss Bryoni start screaming like she having her throat cut. Even Bonzo hear it down there in the garage. But I shout, “Bonzo, you better come quick. Sounds like there big trouble.” We runs up the stairs and Bonzo runs straight through that big ol’ door like there nothing there. I runs in just behind him and I see Master Carl on top of Miss Bryoni on the bed and she fighting him like a crazy girl and screaming her head off and he on top of her having sex with her.’
‘How did you know he was having sex with her, Cookie?’
‘Nuff good ol’ boys have done it to me for me to know for sure when one of them doing it to someone else, Miss Strauss.’
‘Please continue telling us what took place next, Cookie.’
‘Well, Bonzo go out of his head. Like all of us he just love little Miss Bryoni. He shouting at Carl, “What you doing to her, man? She your little baby sister, man. What you doing to her?” and stuff like that. Then he grab Carl and throw him clean across the room. Then I see Carl got his pants all open in front and his big ol’ hard-on sticking out a yard in front of him, all wet with my baby’s blood and stuff and then I want to kill him also, but I tell Bonzo leave him ’cos the police going to take care of him and we gotta take care of Bryoni. Then I call the police and they come pretty damn fast and they arrest Carl and Bonzo carry Bryoni to the police car ’cos she hurt so bad she can’t walk and they take her off to hospital.’
‘Thank you, Cookie. I have no further questions for you.’
Judge Chamberlain looked towards the defence table. ‘Counsel for the defence, do you wish to cross-examine the witness?’
John Martius seemed about to refuse, then he stood up slowly.
‘Mrs Honeycomb, you say you heard Bryoni inviting the accused up to her bedroom?’
‘Yes, sir, I heard her tell him to come up, but I don’t think she want him to play hide the ol’ pork sausage with her. I think she gonna play him the tape of Sacha telling what Carl did—’
‘Your Honour! Witness has answered my question that Bryoni Bannock invited her brother into her bedroom. The rest of her testimony is supposition.’
‘Please don’t speculate, Mrs Honeycomb. The jury will pay no heed to the rest of witness’s reply.’
‘Thank you, Your Honour. I have no further questions for this witness.’ Martius sat down again.
Next, Melody Strauss called Bonzo Barnes to the witness box. Bonzo corroborated every detail of Cookie’s evidence, but not as articulately nor as colourfully as she had delivered the original.
John Martius asked a single question in cross-examination. ‘Mr Barnes, did you hear Bryoni Bannock invite her brother Carl into her bedroom?’
‘Yes, sir. I heard her.’
‘Did Bryoni often entertain her brother Carl in her bedroom with the door closed?’
‘If she did then I never seen or heard her do it, mister.’
‘But you are not certain that she never had him alone in her bedroom?’
Bonzo thought about the question deeply and darkly. ‘It ain’t my job to stand guard at Miss Bryoni’s door every minute of the day.’
‘So you don’t know if Bryoni Bannock made a habit of entertaining her boyfriends in her bedroom behind closed doors?’
‘I am sure of one thing, mister. If I catch any boy in her room trying to do what Carl done to her I gonna break his neck.’
‘Thank you, Mr Barnes. No further questions for this witness, Your Honour.’
Bonzo rose to his full height and stature and glowered at John Martius. ‘I know what you trying to make me say, but what you hear me say is our little Bryoni is a good girl. I gonna break the neck of anybody who say she not!’
‘Thank you, Mr Barnes.’ John Martius backed away hurriedly out of the reach of Bonzo’s long arm. ‘You may leave the witness box.’
Melody called her next witnesses. He was Sergeant Roger Tarantus of the Houston Police Department. He gave evidence that he and his team had responded to an emergency call and gone to No. 61 Forest Drive, the residence of Henry Bannock and his family, on the evening in question. Melody led him through a detailed description of what he had found on the premises on arrival, and the actions he had taken. Sergeant Tarantus’s evidence tended to confirm the evidence of all the other prosecution witnesses, including Bryoni Bannock and both Bonzo Barnes and Martha Honeycomb.
‘So, Sergeant Tarantus, on the strength of what you had seen and heard at Number Sixty-one Forest Drive you arrested Carl Bannock for rape and sundry other offences and took him into the Houston police headquarters, where you booked him?’
‘That is correct, ma’am.’
The defence team declined to cross-examine the sergeant, and the other witnesses called by the prosecution were all character witnesses for Bryoni Bannock. These were Bryoni’s school teachers and the psychiatrists from Nine E
lms who had come to know Bryoni well over the time she had been a regular visitor to her sister Sacha. One after another they described Bryoni as an exemplary student and an intelligent, well-balanced and normal child.
In cross-examination the defence attempted to lead the witnesses into agreeing that Bryoni had an abnormal interest in the opposite sex for a child of her age. In every case this was strongly resisted by all of them.
At last Melody was able to tell Judge Chamberlain, ‘No further questions. The prosecution rests. We are ready to make our summation to the jury, if it pleases Your Honour.’
‘Thank you, Miss Strauss.’ The judged turned to the defence table and asked, ‘Does counsel for the defence wish to call any witnesses in rebuttal, Mr Martius?’
A hush of anticipation held the courtroom. Everybody knew the defence had to call the accused, Carl Peter Bannock, to the witness box to give testimony in his own defence. Not to do so would be an admission of his guilt. To do so would be a calculated risk.
John Martius rose slowly, almost reluctantly, to his feet.
‘The defence calls the defendant, Carl Peter Bannock, Your Honour,’ he said. There was an audible sigh of released tension and Melody Strauss smiled thinly in anticipation, like a lioness with the scent of the gazelle in her nostrils.
Carl rose from his seat at the defence table and made his way in the palpable silence of the courtroom to the witness stand. His demeanour was that of profound contrition. He stood in the box with his hands clasped in front of him and his head bowed. His expression was tragic.
‘You may take a seat, Carl,’ John Martius advised him.
‘Thank you, sir, but I prefer to stand,’ Carl mumbled like a broken man.
‘Please tell us how you feel about these legal proceedings.’
‘I am completely devastated. I feel that I have lost the will to go on living. If this court places me under sentence of death I will welcome the executioner with open arms.’ Carl lifted his head and looked across the floor to his adoptive father, Henry Bannock, seated in the front row facing him. ‘I feel I have let down and disappointed my father. He had such high hopes for me and I tried to live up to his expectations but I failed.’ He sobbed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. ‘I am deeply sorry for any hurt or damage that I might have inflicted on my two darling sisters. I am just as guilty as they are in leading me into sin. I forgive them, and I beg them to forgive me. I am overcome with remorse.’