The Red Dress chapter forty-five

      








     After thirty minutes, Lisa had outlined the events that led up to her being raped by Nick at the party, and her subsequent kidnapping. She had been over it so many times before in her mind that she was able to answer clearly and truthfully without breaking down. By the time Nick's barrister, Peter Halliday stood up to cross-examine her, she was wondering why she had felt so nervous.
 
     “You have told us today, Miss Collins, about the alleged rape which you claim took place at the residence of my client, Mr Corday in the early hours of October 26^th of last year. Do you mind if I clarify a few points regarding the matter?”
 
.     “Not at all,” Lisa answered confidently. She looked over to where Richard was sitting and drew strength from his encouraging smile. All she wanted to do was tell the truth and ignore Nick's eyes, which she could feel boring into the side of her face.
 
     “Could you confirm for me, Miss Collins, that this is not the first time you have alleged to have been sexually assaulted?”
     
     “I'm sorry,” she stammered, thrown off her guard. “I don't understand the question.”
 
     “Then let me remind you, Miss Collins.”
 
     Peter Halliday walked over to the desk and picked up a piece of paper while Lisa stared back at him with a worried frown.
 
     “I have here a copy of a report nearly two years ago from the Strathclyde police where you claimed to have been attacked and nearly raped by persons unknown.”
 
     Lisa felt the blood drain from her face as she remembered the humiliation she had suffered at the hands of the two police officers who’d taken her home after she’d run away from her abusive mother. She’d told Nick all about it.
 
     “I believe on that occasion you gave the police the name and address of the only witness you suggested could substantiate your story, and it turned out to be fictitious. Is that correct?”
 
Lisa felt every eye in the courtroom staring at her as she tried to stay calm.
 
     “One of the men who helped me, gave me a false name and address,” she stammered, when she realised what Nick's barrister was trying to do.
 
     He walked back to the desk again and picked up another piece of paper, a copy of which he again gave to the clerk.
 
     “And this, Miss Collins, is yet another claim you made against the photographer, Liam Smith, whom my client appointed to find you when you ran off to Chelmsford. Yet another occasion, I believe, when you ran away from home. You claim, yet again, to have been attacked and nearly raped by him also. Can you tell me why you waited nearly two months to report this matter to the police?”
 
Lisa felt the sweat break out on her brow as she answered him.
 
     “I didn't know then that Liam was involved with Alan's accident . I just wanted to forget all about it...”
 
Peter Halliday smiled at her sarcastically before turning back to the jury.
 
     “Well, that is understandable, Miss Collins, considering Mr Turner's accident didn't happen until a week after you claim to have been attacked. What is also understandable is the fact that you only reported this alleged attack two months later whilst being interviewed by the police in Chelmsford after the accident. That was only after you found out that Mr Smith had sold naked pictures he had taken of you, with your consent, to a pornographic magazine.”
 
Lisa felt exactly the same way as she had felt on the night the police had driven her home in Glasgow. There was no way she could tell the court about the way Alan had broken down the door and kicked Liam until he was unconscious. They should have reported it to the police when it happened.
 
     Peter Halliday could see that he had the jury's attention, and he played his trump card.
 
     “So, would you like to explain to the court how you actually got a lift from two police officers, the night you alleged to have been raped by my client, Mr Corday - and failed to mention it?”
 
Lisa looked over at Richard and saw him frowning. He couldn't help her now. The facts were stacked against her, and Peter Halliday had succeeded in making her look like a liar.
 
     “I was scared that they wouldn't believe me,” she replied, and tried to fight back tears of frustration.
 
Peter Halliday looked at the jury as though he shared a secret with them.
 
     “Yes, I'm sure you were, Miss Collins, especially with your track record. I put it to you - that the only reason you didn't mention it was because, like the other two occasions you claimed to be attacked - it never actually happened.”
 
Lisa didn't know what to say. The prosecution lawyer made an objection, claiming that the witness was being harassed in order to discredit her.
 
     The judge looked at Nick’s barrister over the top of his glasses and asked him to explain his line of questioning. Peter Halliday looked delighted.
 
     “I believe, your honour, that I can prove that Miss Collins is a less than credible witness due to her past history.”
 
The judge drew in his breath before looking back at him.
 
     “Well, as Miss Collins is not on trial here, Mr Halliday, then I must insist that the jury is removed if you are going to cross examine her on that basis.”
 
Peter Halliday stood up and agreed, as did the prosecuting barrister. Two minutes later, the jury all filed out of the courtroom.
 
     Lisa tried to regain her composure, hoping that the worst was over. It wasn't. The worst was yet to come. Peter Halliday stood up again and approached Lisa, a conceited smile on his face.
 
     “Tell me, Miss Collins, about the baby you lost as a result of the tragic accident you and my client were involved in.”
 
The prosecuting barrister objected again, insisting that Peter Halliday qualified his line of questioning, jury or no jury. When the judge asked him to explain, Peter Halliday looked smug.
 
     “I am merely trying to establish, your Honour, that the child was not that of my client, but the result of Miss Collin’s liaison with somebody else, several weeks prior to her accepting a proposal of marriage from Mr Corday. I think it only fair that the court should know all the details leading up to her allegations.”
 
The judge let him proceed with his line of questioning, so he walked back to Lisa with a condescending smile on his face.
 
     “Miss Collins, am I right in saying that you were at least six weeks pregnant with another man's child when you accepted Mr Corday's proposal of marriage?”
 
Lisa felt the room spinning as she shook her head. She looked up at Alan and gave her answer more for him than anyone else.
 
     “I didn't know that I was pregnant when Nick proposed,” she almost shouted back at Peter Halliday. She was very close to breaking down.
 
He gave a small theatrical laugh before continuing.
 
     “No - of course you didn't. You were a seventeen year old girl whose period must have been at least two weeks late, the month after you had, I can only presume,   unprotected sex with your lover. It's presumptuous of me to assume that you hadn't worked that out for yourself.”
 
     Lisa couldn't believe what was happening. She couldn't take much more, and sensing that she was about to break down, Peter Halliday moved in for the kill.
 
     “So, remind me again. When exactly did you report, not only my client allegedly raping you, but also his alleged involvement in Mr Turner's accident?”
 
Lisa closed her eyes for a moment and tried to concentrate before answering.
 
     “When I was interviewed by the police in the hospital, after the accident.”
 
Peter Halliday went back to the desk and checked through his notes as everyone in the courtroom watched in wrapt silence.
 
     “So that would be three days after the alleged rape, two days after the tragic accident when you lost your baby, and six weeks after Mr Turner's accident, is that correct?”
 
Lisa nodded silently.
 
     “I'm sorry, Miss Collins, I can't hear you.”
 
When she looked at his supercilious face, she hated him for what he was doing to her. “Yes, that’s correct…”
 
Peter Halliday crossed his arms as he approached Lisa in the witness box, the look in his eyes cutting right through her.
 
     “I put it to you, Miss Collins, that you were not in fact raped by my client on the night in question, but went to his study where you were heard to willingly have sex with him before he confronted you with the magazine one of his guests had shown him which contained several lewd and naked pictures of you.”
 
Lisa started shaking her head as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
 
     “It wasn't like that-- he raped me!” she cried hysterically.
 
Peter Halliday ignored her and carried on.
 
     “I also put it to you, Miss Collins, that when my client told you he no longer wanted to marry you as a result of the humiliation you had caused him, and demanded his engagement ring back, I suggest, Miss Collins, you returned to your room and concocted the entire cock and bull story about, not only the rape, but his involvement in Mr Turner's accident - just to get back at him.”
 
Lisa looked over at Richard only to see him slowly shaking his head, his hand over his face.
 
     “Lastly, I put it to you, that my client followed you to London, knowing that you were going to blackmail him with your story, and he only took your friend's car at the petrol station because he was desperate, and that was the only way he could talk to you.”
 
     “NO” Lisa cried out. “It wasn't like that - he raped me!”
 
Peter Halliday approached the bench with a sheaf of papers in his hand.
 
     “I have here, your Honour, several testimonies from guests at the party, the night that Miss Collins alleges to have been raped by my client, which prove quite clearly  that she not only sought out Mr Corday in his study, but was heard to shout out how much she loved and wanted him whilst she was having sex with him. Surely if she was being raped, we would be able to find one witness who could testify to Miss Collins shouting out the word "no" or "stop" even? What I have here is over forty affidavits testifying to the same words. "I want you Nick, I love you Nick" They all consistently say the same thing.”
 
Everyone in the courtroom seemed to be staring at Lisa as Peter Halliday continued.
 
     “Not only did she not ask anyone at the party for assistance, or claim to be raped, but she neglected to mention the matter to the two police officers who gave her a lift back to her hotel some four hours or so later. Put that together with her two precious claims of assault, where not one witness can be found to support her stories, I would suggest that it is Miss Collins who is the problem here.”
 
He walked back to the judge, stopping momentarily in front of Lisa and giving her a disapproving look.
 
     “The main evidence of this trial is based on the testimony of Miss Collins, and I would suggest that the court's time isn't wasted any further by this less than credible witness. I would request, your honour that this case is dismissed, and that the charges against my client are dropped.”
 
     The judge looked over at Lisa for a moment before calling both the barristers and the officer in charge of the case over to the bench. They spoke for a few minutes in hushed voices before both the barristers returned to their seats, and the judge addressed the court, his voice carrying clearly across the courtroom.
 
     “I have had time to consider the evidence of the complainant in this case and I, and those behind me, have taken the view that the complainant’s evidence has been so severely damaged by cross examination, there is now no longer a realistic prospect of securing a conviction. To save any further waste of court time, I would recommend that when the jury returns, that no further evidence is submitted in this prosecution - and that the case against Mr. Corday is dismissed.”
 
     The courtroom erupted, and Lisa looked over at Nick. He smiled back at her. It was the cold slow smile of a man who had  the money to buy revenge, and humiliate the very person they’d abused...