The Sunday News
“THE truth will free me”, is the bold statement Sofia told the lawyer that Jeremiah hired for her to represent her in court. Remember Sofia is to stand trial for the murder of her husband Nyati, who died after falling from her flat. Sofia knows everything that happened on that day. Seeing the gravity of the case and its repercussions the lawyer tries to influence her to change the true statement she gave to the police the day she was arrested.
The stubborn fact Sofia knows is that she caused the death of her husband. She cannot run away from that fact. We meet Sofia on the day of her trial just like we have done with her mother Fatima and her boyfriend, Jeremiah. Sofia tells us that before the end of this very day her fate will have been signed and sealed. She is resigned to fate. She is no longer crying as before. She wonders why her eyes are now dry and where all those free flowing tears have gone to?
We get the answer when she informs us that she has now passed the stage of remorseful introspection. She lectures us that regret and remorse do not help after the course of events. This is one thing her recent past has taught her. Events choose their own path and no one can do anything to alter that. She says only a mad man tries to shift the setting sun from its chosen path. The sun rises from the east and no one can change that.
This is one of the important lessons to humanity that there are certain things which cannot be altered if they are predestined. This is the reason why Sofia says, “Whatever fate has in store for me, then let it be!” The simplest definition of fate is a power over which human beings have no control. Sofia is determined to face what fate has in store for her. All these thoughts come to Sofia while she is in a cell. The cell only gives her three square metres of freedom. The place is so lonely such that she says that even one’s own shadow becomes a rare sight.
The fact still remains. Her trial is going to be held today. She has learnt some fundamentals of life in jail. Jail has taught her the futility of wishful thinking. Wishing she had not done this or that, wishing she had never met this person, wishing she had never been born; all this does not help alter the course of events. The stubborn fact is that she caused the death of her husband, Nyati. She cannot run away from that fact.
We go back and pick our story when Sofia tells the lawyer that nothing else but the truth will free her. On several occasions, the lawyer had wanted to change the statement that she had already made to the police. One time the lawyer said to Sofia: “It would be wise for you to change the statement, Sofia. This will definitely become a lot easier for us if you change that very damaging statement.” Sofia had admitted holding the knife and moving towards Nyati. The lawyer was of the conviction that if they stuck to Sofia’s true statements they were going make things difficult for themselves.
If they stuck to Sofia’s statement, she was going to end up in a mess. Christianity is put to test in the discussion between the lawyer and Sofia. The lawyer having heard that Sofia is a Christian who stands by her beliefs, puts her to test. He says he knows that it is a sin to tell a lie, but going to jail will not help her Christian beliefs in any way. Sofia remained mute when the lawyer said this to her. The lawyer wanted the part where she admitted holding the knife when her husband fell out of the flat changed. He said she was admitting in black and white that she murdered Nyati.
But Sofia remains adamant and says: “I don’t see why I should suddenly change that statement now . . . I have already given that statement to the police and that is the truth anyway. I do not see why I should suddenly change that statement and start telling lies now!” The lawyer is sceptical about Sofia’s truth. He says he can see that Sofia feels strongly about this so called “truth”, however, they can find a way around that problem. He gives in that Sofia can stick to her statement about the kitchen knife if she wants . . . but they need to look closely at her intentions.
Lawyers are paid to defend their clients in court. They go to great lengths to try and extricate their clients from the jaws of the law. It is evident when the lawyer tries by all means to have Sofia change the statement she gave to the police to secure her freedom. He tells Sofia that she is determined to send herself to jail. But Sofia says she is already in jail. The lawyer says they can easily win the case. They only need to change part of the statement, especially the part about Sofia moving towards her husband threateningly holding a knife.
He adds that it is the same as admitting that she pushed him out of the flat. The lawyer tells Sofia that she can stick to her knife story but she should not be seen as having moved towards her husband threateningly, because that is the most damaging admission that she can make in a case like that one. Taken aback, Sofia asks what she should say. The lawyer suggests they either drop the knife story or they change the part about threateningly advancing to her husband with a knife.
In response to this Sofia opens up to the lawyer. “There are many other things about this story you do not know. The whole truth must be told in this case.” Tears begin to roll down Sofia’s cheeks. Instead of telling lies she thinks she should be allowed to tell the truth. She says the truth will free her, that much she knows. As she opens her Bible, her eyes immediately fall on John 8 verse 32: “And you shall know the truth; and the truth will make you free.”
From experience Sofia has learnt that, the little things that can happen to us are as many as the grains of sand in the soil. Those who claim to be in control of their own lives should be taught this simple truth. “Events weave into each other like the many strands of the spider’s web.”
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