A Question of Identity Read Free

days? For a wife to get up in the middle of the night and make tea for her husband if he wants it, even though she has just been sound asleep? Wouldn’t most men these days get their own tea?’
    ‘He’s not most men.’
    ‘Can you explain what you mean by that?’
    ‘Your Honour, I object –’
    ‘Wait a moment, Mr Brockyear. Mr Elrod, I hope this line of questioning has a relevant point because it sounds dangerously like vague speculation about the nature of the population at large.’
    ‘I’m coming to the point now, Your Honour.’
    ‘Then please do so.’
    ‘Mrs Keyes, have you ever refused to make tea when your husband demanded it – in the middle of the night?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Has he demanded it?’
    ‘No. I said. He sleeps as good as I do.’
    ‘Does your husband snore?’
    ‘Yes, like bloody roadworks.’
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘I can hear him in my sleep.’
    ‘I see. Would you be aware of it if he got out of bed in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom?’
    ‘I don’t know. No, I probably wouldn’t unless he put the light on.’
    ‘And would he do that? Put the light on?’
    ‘Shouldn’t think so.’
    ‘So he could get out of bed, leave your bedroom, go to the bathroom, come back, get into bed again – and you would never know it?’
    ‘I probably wouldn’t, no.’
    ‘You probably wouldn’t know that he had been up? Have you ever woken because he’d gone in and out of the room?’
    ‘Not – if I have it’s not for years. I told you, I’m –’
    ‘. . . a very deep sleeper. Yes. So if he were not only to get out of bed and leave the room in the middle of the night, but go downstairs, open the door and leave the house altogether, you wouldn’t be aware of that either?’
    ‘No. I –’
    ‘I put it to you that in fact he did exactly that three times, on the nights in question, when you have stated that the accused was at home in bed with you. He got up and left the house and went out to commit three terrible murders of three innocent elderly women. He left you sound asleep and he returned later, got back into bed and you were still asleep – because you sleep well, as you have told us. You knew nothing else. Because you were undisturbed by his comings and goings. Isn’t that why your evidence is flawed? Why there has to be considerable doubt about its reliability? I am not accusing you of giving false evidence, Mrs Keyes. You are under oath and you know it. No, your evidence is not reliable and the alibi you have given to the accused is not reliable because when he left the house and returned on those nights, you were sound asleep. Isn’t this the case?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Mrs Keyes, will you look at the accused please?’
    ‘Your Honour, I . . .’
    Judge Palmer: ‘Do you have a good reason for that request, Mr Elrod?’
    ‘I do, Your Honour, if you will allow me.’
    Judge Palmer: ‘Objection overruled. There is no reason why the witness should not be asked to look at the accused. He is her husband, after all.’
    ‘Thank you, Your Honour. Mrs Keyes, will you please look at the accused? No, not a swift glance. Please look at him steadily. You seem nervous. Are you? Are you afraid of your husband, Mrs Keyes?’
    ‘Your Hon–’
    Judge Palmer: ‘No, Mr Brockyear, sit down. Carry on, Mr Elrod.’
    ‘Mrs Keyes, you obviously have difficulty answering that question, just as you had difficulty looking steadily at theaccused. I put it to you that you are afraid of him – very afraid. That you have been afraid of him for a long time and that if you had not given him an alibi for the nights of 17 July, 30 July and 4 August 2001, you were afraid – terrified – of his reaction. He told you what to say and you said it. You know perfectly well that he got up and went out on those nights. You didn’t know why but you would never ask. You covered for the accused because you were and you are afraid of what he would do to you if you did not. Isn’t