SCENE 18
Lewes Courtroom Mr Justice Kennedy presiding
Prisoner in the dock, you are charged that on the fifteenth of November, in the year of our
Not guilty your honour.
Do you have anybody to speak for you?
I shall defend myself your honour
Mr Rowney, proceed.
Members of the jury, this case is an important one in the history of our land. We are, in these times, set about by rogues and miscreants, intent on destroying the peace and calm of the countryside, of flagrantly flying in the face of law and order, of seeking acceptance of their demands, not through peaceful, lawful negotiation, but through terror, violence, wanton destruction and arson! You see before you one such rogue. I shall bring evidence to describe how this monster, for reasons known only to his dark soul, started out, on the night in question, to set fire to a barn, and to destroy the threshing machine, belonging to the farmer, who, out the goodness of his own heart, had taken him in and employed him not three weeks earlier. Members of the jury, it is in your hands to say to these ruffians, these Captain Swingers, “enough.” And if you continue, our vengeance shall be mighty! I ask you to find this man guilty and make him pay dearly for his crimes.
Prisoner in the dock, you may address the jury.
Gentlemen. I am an honest working man. I do not believe I am either rogue or ruffian. I was working on the farm it is true. I went to the barn that night it is true, but not to set fire to it, rather in answer to a call for help which I believed came from a young woman who needed my help. A young woman who was being sorely treated by her husband. (A ripple of noise runs round the court. Mr Kennedy bangs his gavel and says Silence in Court) Pray ask yourselves this, why would someone who worked a threshing machine, whose income came from working such a machine, why would this person set out to destroy it? I am not guilty.
My first witness, call the High constable of Lewes.
Members of the Jury, on the charge of attempted arson, have you reached a verdict on which you are all agreed?
KENNEDY
Do you find the defendant, guilty or not guilty?
Guilty
KENNEDY
On the charge of attempted criminal damage, have you reached a verdict?
We have.
Do you find the defendant, guilty or not guilty?
Guilty
Thank you. (Putting on a black cap) Mathew Wells, you have been found guilty of crimes that are striking at the very heart of our peaceful society. We do not know, nor do we care what drove you to such vile and cowardly acts. Throughout this trial you have shown no remorse or regret for your deeds. Rather you have amplified your guilt by trying to implicate a blameless woman. You have also made baseless allegations about her husband in a vain attempt to confuse the jury and elicit some sort of sympathy. We, that is society, must send a message to all who harbour ideas of revolt and uprising, who favour flames and destruction. Mathew Wells, the sentence of this court is that you be taken from here to a place of execution, and there be hanged by the neck until you are dead. Take him down. (end of scene)