Involuntary Witness - Страница 26

The judge turned to me.

“Avvocato, what is the relevance of the witness’s previous appointments to this trial?”

“Your Honour, I need to ask these questions for purposes as under Article 194 sub-section 2 of the procedural code. The answers, as will become clear in due time, are of use to me in assessing the reliability of the witness.”

The judge was silent for a moment, then the associate judge said something in his ear. At last, after another pause, he gestured to me to go ahead.

“So then, Sergeant-Major, what was your appointment previous to being an instructor of recruits?”

While I was asking this, Lorusso turned towards me for an instant and gave me a glare of hatred. I was about to do something not often done. I was about to violate the tacit pact of non-aggression that exists during trials between defence counsel and cops. He had realized this. If he ever got a chance, he’d make me pay for it. For sure.

“I was attached to the operations unit of the operations department in Bari, first section, organized crime.”

“That is, the unit comprising the best investigators in the whole province. So if I have understood rightly you were transferred from a position in the front rank to that of… of an instructor of recruits in Reggio Calabria. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Was this a normal occurrence or was there some particular reason?”

I didn’t much like what I was doing, but I had to shake his calm before going on to what really interested me.

“Avvocato, you know very well why they transferred me, and that I emerged from that business without a stain on my character.”

“Would you tell us what business that was?” My tone was one of false cordiality. Perfectly odious.

The judge intervened, this time without waiting for the prosecution.

“Avvocato, take care not to abuse the patience of the court. Come to the point.”

“Sergeant-Major, can you tell us why you were transferred to Reggio Calabria?”

“Because a crook caught red-handed in the possession of a kilo of cocaine with intent to peddle it, with a police record three pages long, had accused me, a captain and another NCO of having beaten him up. We were all three acquitted and that gentleman got ten years for drug trafficking. Will that do?”

“All right. You took the statements of Signor Renna, proprietor of the Bar Maracaibo, and also of the two Senegalese citizens Diouf and… I forget the name of the other. However, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell the court what methods you used for putting them on record?”

“In what sense, Avvocato?”

“Did you tape or videotape these statements?”

“We did not tape them. If you look carefully at those reports, you will see it in black and white that due to the unavailability of recording equipment the statements were drawn up only in summary form.”

“Ah, yes, of course. So let us see if I have properly understood. You drew up the report in summary form only because the equipment for video or audio recording was not available. Is that correct?”

Lorusso realized what I was leading up to, but it was too late.

“At that moment I don’t think we… it was an emergency situation…”

“I have a very simple question to ask you: in the operations unit of the carabinieri in Monopoli do you not have a tape recorder or video camera?”

“We had them, but at that moment… I think the tape recorder was out of order. I don’t at this time remember exactly, but there was definitely some problem.”

“The tape recorder was out of order. And the video camera?”

“We are not issued with a video camera.”

“Excuse me, but I have here the report on the on-the-spot investigation relating to the finding of the child’s body. It is stated here that ‘the on-the-spot investigations were documented also by means of video-recording’. And, in fact, a video cassette is attached to the report. What have you to say about that?”

Cervellati almost shouted his objection. He was losing his cool.

“Objection, Your Honour, objection. It is inadmissible to conduct the cross-examination of a witness on the basis of how he drafted a report, whether he had a tape recorder, a pen or a computer.”

“Your Honour, that it is inadmissible is the opinion of the public prosecutor. We are interested in finding out how certain statements were put on record, in order to discover whether, albeit involuntarily – since no one doubts the good faith of the investigators – I repeat, to discover whether there might have been some conditioning of the witnesses, or misunderstanding of what was actually said. Do not let us forget that the prosecution has asked for the reading of the declarations made during the inquiries of the two non-European citizens-”

Zavoianni interrupted me. He was getting rattled. He didn’t like all these questions, he didn’t like my procedural method and – I had always suspected it but now I was certain – he didn’t like me.

“Avvocato, let us go on to something else. I have put up with a lot of totally irrelevant questions. Let us have some questions pertinent to the proceedings at last.”

While looking at the judge as he spoke, I managed to steal a glance at Lorusso, who was breathing deeply, to relax.

“Your Honour, I believe it relevant to know for what motives the examination of persons in possession of the facts, and in particular that of the non-European citizens whom we cannot re-examine here because they are nowhere to be found, was not fully documented.”

“Avvocato, I have made up my mind. Proceed without questioning my decisions.”

I compressed my lips for a moment or two. Then I started in again.

“Thank you, Your Honour. I would like you, Sergeant-Major, to tell us about the searches carried out at the defendant’s lodgings.”

“What in particular do you want to know, Avvocato?”

“How you set about it from an operative point of view, whether you were looking for anything in particular, what state the place was in, everything.”

“I don’t altogether understand your question. Operatively speaking, we searched Thiam’s room, examining everything. We were not looking for anything in particular, but for anything that might be useful to the inquiry. It was there we found the photograph of the accused with the boy and the children’s books, which are listed in the report.”

“Did you find nothing else relevant to the inquiries?”

“No.”

“Otherwise you would have taken them.”

“Otherwise we would have taken them, obviously.”

“Did you find a Polaroid camera, or any other kind of camera?”

“No.”

“Now I would like to talk for a moment about those books. I read in the report of the search and the related seizure that Signor Thiam had in his room three novels for children in the Harry Potter series, The Little Prince, a fairy-tale in French, the well-known children’s story Pinocchio, and another book for children entitled Doctor Dolittle. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Did Signor Thiam have only these books in his room?”

“I don’t clearly remember now. There may have been something else.”

“When you say something else, you mean some other books?”

“Yes, I think there were a few other books.”

“Are you able to say approximately how many books?”

“I don’t know. Five, six, ten.”

“Would you be surprised if I told you that in that room there were over a hundred books?”

“Objection,” put in the public prosecutor. “The witness is being asked for an opinion.”

“I will rephrase the question, Your Honour. Are you certain, Sergeant-Major, that the books were not many more than ten or so?”

“Perhaps about twenty, not a hundred.”

“Can you describe the room, and in particular whether there were any bookshelves?”

“It’s nearly a year ago, however there was a bed, a bedside table… yes, there was a shelf beside the bed.”

“Just one shelf or several, a bookcase?”

“Perhaps… it is possible there was a small bookcase.”

“Now, I realize it is not easy after nearly a year, but I would ask you to make an effort to remember what there was in this little bookcase.”

“Avvocato, I can’t remember. Certainly there were books, but I can’t remember what else there was.”

“Sergeant-Major, you will certainly have understood that I wish it to emerge how many books there were, roughly speaking. I know the answer, but I would like you to remember.”

“There were several shelves in the bookcase, and there were books, but I can’t say how many.”

“But you took only those indicated in the report. Why was that?”

“Because plainly they were the only ones pertinent to the inquiry.”

“Because they were books for children?”

“Exactly.”

“I see… Now I would like to talk about the photograph, the one showing Signor Thiam with little Francesco. What can you tell me about this photograph?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“Was it the only photograph in Signor Thiam’s possession, or do you remember if there were others?”

“I don’t remember, Avvocato. There were three of us carrying out the search, and I don’t remember whether the photo was found by me or by a colleague.”

“I would like to show you something.” I took an envelope out of my briefcase, opened it unhurriedly and asked the judge permission to show the witness some photographs. He nodded.

“You see these photos, Sergeant-Major? Can you tell us in the first place whether you recognize any of the people represented?”