I am Barrister Sunday, It has been 6 years into my career as a lawyer and I have never Lost a case in court. This Is not necessarily because I'm the best lawyer in the world, but rather I am very careful when choosing a case to Plead for. I always accept cases of people who are fighting for their Right, or people who have been accused falsely. Before I accept a case, I always ensure that there is enough solid evidence to back up the case. I don't usually accept cases of people who have been rightly accused trying to plead innocent or cases of people trying to abuse the law, or snatch something from their opponent forcefully with fabricated evidence.
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I was married to a beautiful wife and our marriage was blessed with three lovely children. My last child was barely 3 years old, it's always pretty difficult to make out meaning from his wordings. All my life as a lawyer, I have never been to court with regards to cases involving me directly. Despite being a lawyer, I try as much as possible to avoid having a case with somebody. Whenever I have a misunderstanding with somebody I try my best to settle the case before it gets to court.
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One sunny evening, a very good friend of mine called me to come over to his house. It is normally a family tradition to hang out with my children every Sunday evening. When I told my children that I wouldn't be spending time with them that fateful day, they were so sad and Chidi my last son couldn't stop crying. As I was about leaving for my Friends house, Chidi held me tight at my feet crying and he kept saying.
"Daddy please don't go. Spend the day with us like you always do."
"I really have to go, I'll spend more time with you all next week. I promise."
My wife had to carry Chidi away before he let go of me. This delayed me, because I would have gotten to my friends house a long while ago. On getting to my friend's house, everywhere was suspiciously silent. I tried knocking and noticed that the door was already open. I walked into the house calling my friend's name, but there was no reply. I was becoming worried because it is unlike my friend to leave his house Open and insecure.
I walked into the sitting room and froze at the sight of my friend's lifeless body swimming in his own pool of blood. I was shocked. I saw a gun lying next to him.
"This must be the murder weapon."
I said as I picked it up trying to examine it. In that moment, the doors burst open and police came in from every angle screaming.
"Freeze!
Drop your weapon!
Get down on your knees!!
Turn around!!
Put your hands behind your head!!"
I wasn't given a chance to explain myself. I was arrested and accused of the murder of my friend Uche. I was locked up in a holding cell, to face the court of law the next day being Monday. My family came to visit me, with tears in their eyes. That was when I realized that my son holding me back earlier in the day was a signal to stay back home and avoid stepping into my enemy's plans.
The next day I was taken to court And Pleaded for bail, after some arguments with my opponents I was granted bail with the sum of $3000 and with an order not to leave the city. The case was ajourned to the next two weeks. On getting the bail, I spent the next few days trying to figure out what exactly happened. Why would someone want to kill Uche and most importantly why would someone want to frame me for the murder.
I tried to gather as much information and evidence as I could. Sadly it seemed that every where I turned to was a dead end. Somebody was working really hard to ensure that I found no evidence to prove me innocent. Despite the fact that a cctv camera was installed in Uche's house, all the records of the evening when the incident took place were missing.
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The date of the adjournment was getting closer really fast and I had no strong evidence at hand to prove my innocent and gain my freedom. One day, as I was walking home, a car pulled up in front of me. I almost ran off thinking that they have come to assassinate me, but the driver simply stretched out his hands and put a flash drive in my hands and zoomed off. At first, I was scared to access the content of the flash drive, because it might be a plot to kill me, or yet another trap. I finally summoned the courage to slot the flash drive into a computer. The first words of the video said.
"THIS IS THE LAST SURVIVING VIDEO OF THE NIGHT OF YOUR ARREST"
To my greatest surprise, the video showed everything that happened on that very day clearly. My friend Uche was shot to dead minutes before my arrival to the house and the faces of the accomplices could be seen clearly from the video.
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Finally the day of the hearing arrived. I was so happy that it made me wake up so early, prepared and was ready to leave. As I was about leaving, my last child started his drama once again. This time around, he kept following me, with something in his hands trying to make a sentence, but I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say.
"Chidi I'm not ready for your drama today."
I said as I got into the car and drove off. My wife were to bring my children to the court later on. The formalities were followed in the court, the accusers Pleaded their case with their fabricated evidence.
"Defendant, how do you plead, Guilty Or Not Guilty?"
"Not guilty my Lord!"
I replied. It was my turn to bring my evidence forward. I searched my bag and I couldn't find the flash drive that contained my evidence. I searched and searched almost going crazy.
"Could it be that I forgot it at home."
I asked myself. If I were to go home to search for it, I might be late and lose the case. I was totally confused. The court kept asking;
"Provide your evidence or we will have no choice but to declare you Guilty."
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Just then my wife walked into the court room with my children. My last child still had the object in his hands waving at me, I had a closer look at the object and realized that it was the flash drive I was searching for. It must have been what he was trying to give me when we were still at home. I rushed towards him, collected the flash drive and have him a kiss on the head.
I presented the evidence to the court and my accusers were dumbfounded and surprised on how I managed to get the video. I was found innocent. I was discharged and acquired at once. I immediately rushed to my family hugging each of them. When I got to Chidi's turn I said to him.
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"Today you were my hero and you will forever be my hero."
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