Chronicles Of A Runs Girl - S01 E70

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Chronicles Of A Runs Girl - S01 E70

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 70

“My client is going to sue the Nigerian police force,” the lawyer said.

My jaw dropped.

The commissioner smiled as if he had expected it. “She’s safe and so are her friends,” he said.

“Yes, that may be so, but that’s not what we are suing for.”

I heard Johnny’s voice, making jokes with someone, so did the commissioner.

“Please, one moment,” the commissioner begged my lawyer. He got to his feet just as Johnny walked in with his son in tow.

You wouldn’t know he had just been released from kidnappers. He looked healthy and cheerful. He looked like Johnny!

“Ol’ boy, you for leave me with those bastards make I teach them sense,” he said to the commissioner. “Me I was already planning my escape, you know I’ve watched plenty film.”

It was just like Johnny to go through such an ordeal and still be able to make jokes. He looked at me and spread out his arms. I walked into them, tears in my eyes.

“Amaka maka. I’m so sorry you got involved in all this mess.”

John junior shook hands with everybody, including the officers who were obviously guards. When he shook Rotimi, he took both his hands in his.

“Baby,” Johnny said, “They said you did Rambo for one of them.”

He was referring to the officer on the bike. The commissioner asked everyone to settle down then he told the woman to explain what had transpired.

“Shoo? So the man Amaka beat was a policeman?” Johnny asked.

“Yes, sir,” the policewoman said.

The lawyer lady introduced herself to Johnny.

“I’m glad you’re fine,” she said. “We were in the middle of discussing something just before you came. We will continue now, if it’s ok with you.”

The commissioner asked her if it couldn’t wait and she said no.

“Like I was saying my client is suing the police force for what happened to her while in custody with the police. She shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place, so she shouldn’t even have been there, then she was raped by a police officer.”

“What!” That was Johnny.

“Yes, raped. And the officer even had the time to record video evidence of his crime on his phone.”

“What!” That was the police commissioner.

The commissioner’s wife squeezed my palms. She had been holding them in hers all along. I was confused. I didn’t remember the man filming me, but then again I didn’t remember a lot. There were even times when I didn’t remember him doing anything to me. I wasn’t even sure he did.

“Amaka, I want to show you a video on my phone. Just watch it and tell me if you are the one on the video and if you recognize the other person in the video and if he is the officer that violated you.”

My heart was about to explode. He had recorded it and it was being passed around like all those other videos that boys share with each other on campus.

“Let me see,” the commissioner said.

Amaka looked at him as if he had asked her to take off her clothes. “Let you see? You mean you haven’t seen the video? The one your officer made and shared with his colleagues? Of my client being brutally violated and humiliated?”

“I wasn’t told about any video.” He turned to the lady officer. “Did you know about this?”

“No sir. This is the first time I’m hearing of it sir.”

Amaka was standing in the middle of the room with her phone in her hand.

“Well, if my client gives her permission for you to see it then I’ll let you see it, she has already been humiliated enough. Your lawyer will get a copy anyway, but be assured that if the video gets out we will come down hard on you.”

She beckoned for me to come to her.

“This is not going to be pleasant,” she said. “I’ll turn down the volume and I’ll show you just a little bit of it then I’ll ask you to identify the people in it. Is that ok?”

I nodded.

“No one else will see this video unless you want them to. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“I’m really sorry to have to show it to you, but it’s important for our case. They must pay for what happened to you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

She cupped her fingers over the screen so that only I could see it.

“Do you recognize the people in the video?”

“Yes.”

“Are you in the video?”

“Yes.”

“Do you recognize the man?”

“Yes.”

“Is he your friend?”

“No.”

“Who is he?”

“A policeman.”

“What is he doing to you?”

I looked at her. She put her phone back into its cover.

“What was he doing to you?”

“He was raping me.”

Rotimi, Johnny, and the commissioner’s wife all came to me. Rotimi and Johnny stepped back and allowed the commissioner’s wife to take me back to the sofa.

Amaka wasn’t done.

“Imagine what it would do to the police force if this video were to find its way onto Linda Ikeji’s blog? But enough damage has already been done to my client so we would ask that this case be handled with the strictest confidentiality, or else we would seek even greater damages.”

“How much?” the commissioner asked.

“How much for what?”

“To settle out of court.”

“And what makes you think we are willing to settle out of court?”

“Amaka, I know you. This is not the first time you are getting us. How much?”

“I’ll have to talk to my client.”