Episode 26

The Verdict and Last Ray of Hope

RECAP: Episode 25 focused on the incidents before Millson was sent to court. It highlighted how Dzifa acquired the Cocaine and how she used her feminine charm to manipulate the Commanding officer.


The Judge declared his verdict.

VERDICT : ā€œHaving considered all the statements and evidences put before me carefully, I hereby, declare you, Mr. Millson Lamptey guilty of the charges brought against you. You are therefore sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour.ā€

*

The judge tapped his table with his gavel.The police came in , hand

cuffed Millson and were about to take him away when Lovelace Bansah stepped into the court. She told the Police in Charge of court security she had something to show to the Judge.

Millson was happy. He knew his salvation was near. The night he communicated with Miss Bansah, he sent her the recording in case of any eventuality or emergency. It looked like his smartness was about to pay off.

ā€ Father Lord, Thank You.ā€ Millson said. He turned and gazed at Dzifa. The smiles on her face was wiped out. She looked scared.

Lovelace was asked to hand over the evidence to the Police Officer. She had already open the recording folder. What was needed was for the officer to press the ā€œPLAYā€ button. The officer moved towards the judge with Lovelaceā€™s phone. He pressed the ā€œDELETEā€ buttonā€ before reaching the Judgeā€™s session.

Then he said, ā€œmy Lord, the folder seemed empty. It contains no file or recording.ā€

He showed the empty folder to Judge Maverick Appiah.

The smile on Dzifaā€™s face returned. The officer also smiled but Lovelace was shocked and annoyed. She screamed at the officer, ā€œYou liar, you deleted the recording. I saw it right now before handing it over to you.ā€

The Judge told Lovelace to produce the evidence or face a fine or imprisonment.

Lovelace took the phone and searched for the recording but couldnā€™t found it. Then she told the court she had a duplicate of the recording. She was told to bring it within thirty minutes or face prosecution. She left, promising to come back within the stipulated time. The officers who arrested Millson were told to wait for a while.


Police Officer Derrick was a worried man. He counted himself lucky to have had access to the recording brought in my Lovelace. It could have exonerated Millson and implicated Dzifa and possibly him.

He asked his boys to follow Lovelace and retrieve the duplicate recording from her the moment she entered the house before she forward it to another person.

Dzifa was unaware she had been followed. She headed towards her Parentā€™s home in Accra, around Manet New Estate.

She signalled a Taxi Cab and entered saying ā€˜Manet Estateā€™.

In the Taxi, a thought occurred to her. She had kept a duplicate of the recording on her second mobile phone. She must forward it to as many people as possible to reduce the possibility of its total loss.

He reached the house and looked for the Second phone. She was about to click a button when she heard some noises.

She sensed something was wrong.

She peeped through the window and saw two police men coming towards the door. She was hurriedly forwarding the audio to her sister MaĆ­la when the phone had a LOW BATTERY.

Quickly, she removed the memory card from the Phone and reclosed the cover.

She managed to squeeze herself through the bar- less window and climbed the tree closer to her bedroom window. Then she heard heavy knocks on her door.

It was quite Paradoxical to think policemen were chasing Lovelace to retrieve an evidence that will exonerate an innocent man. Instead of going after evil, they were protecting it.

One of the Police officers said,ā€ letā€™s break the door and enter. She may have seen us coming.

They broke the door and entered the room but Lovelace wasnā€™t there.

Then one of the Police men suggested they looked behind the bedroom window,the window closer to the tree.

Lovelace ran towards the gate after passing through the window but an officer saw her before she negotiated a curve. He screamed, Sheā€™s running away, Sheā€™s running!! away.!!! In that moment Lovelace knew she was cornered.

ā˜†{Lovelaceā€™s Point Of View}ā˜†

My heart jumped into my mouth and goose pimples sprang onto my skin. Cold shivers ran down my spine. I knew Millsonā€™s exoneration depended on the evidence I carried. I must protect it with all my strength.

I mustered courage, opened the gate and broke into a ran. The policemen came out of the house and entered their van. The van moved towards my direction.

I knew if I ran straight,the van would catch up with me in a few seconds . Quickly, I diverted into the bush and ran harder. They stopped the van and the two

policemen begun chasing me again.

Soon they began to narrow the gap between themselves and I.

I increased my pace. The inner energy in me increased and I outran them. I didnā€™t know how I did it because the way those policemen were ranning when I glanced at them through the corner of my eyes, I was amazed I was not captured.

Just then,I saw a taxi moving towards my direction. It was adjacent to the bush. I quickly signalled it. It Screeched to a halt.

I guessed the taxi driver might have slammed on the brakes and brought his car to a complete halt.

I jumped into the taxi and shouted ā€ Driver,Go,Go,Go,Go!!!!ā€

The driver put his leg on the accelerator and the car sped off just a few seconds before I saw the Police appearing from the bush.

I was quite relief. Three minutes later,I gazed into the rear mirror of the taxi. I saw a van.

My heart started beating. Surely,it was the Police van. The van kept tailing us.

The taxi driver sensing danger changed his gear and stepped on my accelerator and began speeding. The Police van having realized we were aware of being followed also changed gear. My taxi driver negotiated a curve, sharply turning the steering wheel to the right.The van also negotiated the curve and chased us.

The van leaped forward and nearly overtook ours but the taxi driver was tactful and smashed the side of his car into the Van, causing it to back track for a minute .

The Taxi driver now realising the cruciality of the situation maximised his speed. We left a great distance between the van and our car.

I glanced at the speedometer. The taxi was going at a speed of 250 kmph.There was a traffic light ahead. It suddenly turned red and we were forced to decelerate fast. He applied his break. The Taxi screeched to an abrupt halt.

I could smell the burning tyre,

resulting from the friction between the tyre and the asphalt road.

I could see the Police van getting closer again. There were three cars between us.When the traffic light turned Green, the taxi driver sped off, quickly, and negotiated a sharp curve that nearly tipped the taxi in the process.

He kept driving to maximum speed and jumped the next traffic light, almost crashing into an Articulated truck . He by -passed a hidden route few metres from the T- junction. Putting the car in reverse gear, he drove backward and entered the hidden back road before reversing the gear again to full acceleration just in time before the articulated truck moved away from the Police Vanā€™s line of vision.

When my taxi driver manoeuvred the car through the hidden lane, the Police van missed the view of our taxi and passed the opposing lane. I was relieved the police missed us. I turned happily and praise the taxi driver for such expertised driving.

He took me to the court. I got out of the Taxi . I still have five minutes out of the thirty minutes I was given.

Just then a hand convered my mouth. I lost my consciousness for a moment. When I regain consciousness, I gazed at my watch. I was ten minutes late.

As soon as I emerged at the court, the Judge got infuriated. My evidence was stolen from me. Both phones and SIM Card.

I looked into Millsonā€™s face. He was highly disappointed in me. Dzifa was still at the court. She was very excited. The Judge asked me to pay a fine of Ghc11,891.39 (800,000 Naira).

I didnā€™t have that amount of money so I was sentenced to two years imprisonment for deceiving the court and wasting the time of the Judge unnecessarily. I saw the Police van. Iā€™m going to prison with Millson.


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