THE SAINTS.
..when men play God.
It was supposed to be a simple case.
That was why the school had handed it down to the student judiciary council to handle.
The judiciary council when fully represented consisted of five students in all. First class materials in the field of law with little or no social life. They were no-nonsense individuals who even lecturers stayed away from. It was common knowledge that a certain vocal lecturer had once challenged openly one of the rulings of the council. Soon afterwards, the lecturer was implicated in an ingenious plot that suspiciously included a well-known campus flirt claiming sexual harassment. In a few weeks, he was without a job; unemployed and unemployable. The council had seen to that. They had proven that they had influence that went well beyond the boundaries of the school.
The University of Benin simply revered them.
The case had dragged on for weeks, the facts being distorted at each sitting. When in everyone’s opinion it was supposed to be an open and shut case. Toro Badejo, the student prosecutor was amazed and frustrated in equal proportion. How much more simple can a case possibly be?
Five students, three girls and two guys were returning from a late night fellowship meeting at the chapel and they had to pass through a bush path to get to the hostel. It was a few minutes past ten at night. Suddenly some people brandishing choice weapons surrounded them. One of the boys displaying a modicum of courage offered some resistance and was mercilessly hacked for his troubles leaving him half-dead. The other boy was told to make a run for it and relay the message to God peradventure he wouldn’t be too busy to come around and save the girls from their imminent fate. The boy responded gamely and was gone through the bushes in a flash. The attackers converged on the girls. One of the girls dutifully fainted but the other two were too scared to follow her example. The nocturnal assailants took turns on them and the rape began. The machetes were used at intervals to encourage cooperation from the girls whose cries were expertly muffled.
When they were done, they disappeared into the night leaving the girls half-conscious. The boy who had gone seeking God returned without him but brought along a few half terrified security personnel along with the school’s chief security officer.
A half hour later, the chief security officer had gotten a fairly accurate description of the assailants from the victims who were promptly rushed to a nearby hospital.
Ebuwa Daniels, the security officer had a fair idea who the miscreants were and a few minutes before midnight they stormed their hideout and half carried, half dragged the offenders away. They were stone drunk and had in the spirit of the moment shared the gist of their recent escapades with their cronies.
A few unwilling witnesses were threatened and enlisted.
On the day of the proceedings the defendant had hammered at the girls, making them look like prostitutes and went further to challenge their visual ability saying they couldn’t have gotten that clear a description of the alleged assailants in their shocked state and low visibility.
Toro Badejo, the prosecuting counsel could have sworn the judiciary council, all seated regally had nodded in agreement.
