Murder Club - Mark Pearson [38]
‘What did you do?’
‘I …’ She paused for a moment and took another sip of water. ‘I voided my bladder,’ she said.
‘You wet yourself?’ Selena Carrow clarified and looked at the jury.
‘Yes.’
‘And what did the man do?’
‘He laughed and said I would be punished for it, then ordered me to take my clothes off.’
‘And what did you do?’
The woman put a hand to her neck, in an involuntary gesture.
‘I did as he said.’
‘You stripped naked?’
Stephanie Hewson shook her head. ‘I left my knickers on.’
‘And what did he do?’
‘He told me to get on all fours, pushing me down. Then he held my knickers and ripped them up hard. I gasped with pain as they pulled between me and then he tore them right off, stuffing them in my mouth and ordering me to keep quiet.’
Selena Carrow nodded sympathetically, letting the words hang in the air as she consulted her notes.
‘And you did?’
‘Yes.’
‘What did he do?’
‘I heard a zip being pulled. He said he was going to put on a condom, that he couldn’t afford to pick up diseases in his line of work.’
‘And then he raped you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Repeatedly?’
‘Yes, first he …’
She trailed off and Selena Carrow held her notes up. ‘It’s okay, Miss Hewson. I know it is hard for you to talk about it. To relive the horror. I have your police statement here. You informed the police surgeon on duty that night at Harrow Police Station that you had been anally and vaginally raped. Is that correct?’
Stephanie Hewson nodded her head, tears springing in her eyes.
‘I am sorry, but we will need to hear your answer. Is it true that you were brutally raped, anally and then vaginally?’
‘Yes! And when he was done he sliced me with his knife and left.’
‘And what did you do?’
‘I got up and went to the window.’
‘You weren’t feeling any pain?’
‘I didn’t register the knife at the time. I was in shock. The surgeon said I was in shock. It was later … it didn’t really hit me until later.’
‘So you went to the window. Could you see anything?’
‘He was outside, adjusting his hat, and then he hurried off past the school towards the hill.’
‘Did you see his face?’
‘Sideways on.’
‘Enough to recognise him?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then what did you do?’
‘I waited some minutes, then I put my coat on, grabbed my other clothes and ran to the apartment block to raise help.’
‘And then the police and ambulance came, and they treated you and took your statement.’
‘They took my statement the next day at the police station. I was sedated overnight and kept in at Northwick Park Hospital.’
‘Thank you very much, Miss Hewson. I know this hasn’t been easy for you.’
‘I can go now?’
‘Not just yet, my learned colleague will have some questions for you. But I have one final question?’
‘Yes?’
‘You said you could recognise the man again, from what you saw of him through that Scout-hut window?’
‘Yes, I would.’
Selena Carrow nodded and paused for a moment. ‘Can you look around this room then, please, and tell the court if you can see him here.’
Stephanie Hewson slowly looked around the courtroom, at the accused, at the visitors’ gallery, at the jury and finally at Jack Delaney. She looked at him for about three seconds, studying him, and then turned back to the lawyer.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t see the man who attacked me.’
26.
THERE WAS UPROAR in the courtroom. The judge had to bang her gavel several times to get order restored. Selena Carrow was about to speak, but the judge motioned her to silence.
‘Sit down, please, Miss Carrow,’ she said, then turned to the woman in the witness box.
‘Miss Hewson, you do understand you are on oath?’
‘I do.’
‘Mr Robinson was arrested and charged and brought to court, largely based on the identification you made of him.’
‘Yes.’
‘You picked him out of a police line-up. How were you able to do that, if he was not the man that you saw through the window of the Scout hut?’
‘Because I had seen a photo of him, Your Honour.’
‘When did you see the photo?’
‘Before the line-up took