Two Statements, One Accused

The Opening Statement: Prosecution

“Your Honour,

A great task awaits all of us

Calling upon us to right a wrong

And punish a prohibited act

This we do in this court

to find blame or otherwise,

to accord justice to the injured party

What an honourable task!

Your Honour,

The accused seated there

Armed with a wicked ingenuity

Misdirected artistry and knack

In cahoots with others, in a

‘most evil enterprise’,

Devised a computer program

That siphoned millions of money

From the accounts of thousands

Of hard-working, disciplined Kenyans

Working on the same egregious and abominable

Plan, they registered a company using false passports

Used the company as a conduit

To channel that money, not in a single moment

Struck by their consciences;

But true as a pin is to needle, the bell

Of their actions tolls for them, the bits and pieces

Have fallen into place, and what lay hidden

Has now been exposed and is now being tried in this

Honourable Court

Justice will be dispensed in this court

To put the accused behind bars

Your Honour, we will show in our evidence

That the accused committed various offences

And that he belongs to prison…”

The Opening Statement: Defence

“Your Honour,

If it pleases the court,

I wish to give an opening statement

As we have heard from the Prosecution

He says that our client, defrauded in a ‘most evil

enterprise’ through a well-calculated

Scheme using a computer program;

He says that our client committed

A most ‘egregious and abominable’ act

That fleeced Kenyans of their hard-earned money

The prosecution thus said

That they will adduce evidence to show

That our client deserves to be locked behind bars

That his actions don’t deserve ‘approbation’

But ‘opprobrium’

That much, the Prosecution said of our client—

Your Honour, look at the accused

A banker for 25 years standing

An impeccable record in the industry

A father of three, a husband

A Kenyan like any other who, were it not for this case,

We would not have known about

The eloquence of the prosecutor

To paint a picture of our client

Using the most arrant and sordid of terms

Brilliant as this could be, cannot impose guilt

As we will show, Your Honour, this is

A case of a disgruntled employer

Intent on leveling charges it cannot substantiate

Keen on tarnishing our client’s name

We will demonstrate to this court that

There is no nexus between the crimes

Alleged with our client

We will do this, one piece of evidence after another

One assertion after another, one argument after another

We will put the prosecution to strict proof

To reveal, Your Honour, that

In fact, our client never committed the said offences

and that this is purely actuated by malice…”

C) Lorot Salem 2011