Fitzpatrick went straight on the attack, accusing Vickers of being a disloyal spy motivated by greed and malice. The witness accepted he’d been turned down for a partnership, but denied that it was because of client complaints about his reliability and he denied being caught by Thomas, in flagrante, with a staff typist on the company boardroom table. He also suggested that Vickers was stealing client and contact lists. Fitzpatrick turned to a different context for interpreting Vickers’ evidence.
‘Could the court attendant pass the witness this list of Mr Thomas’s clients? Fitzpatrick handed a copy to Sasha and waited until Vickers had his copy. ‘Go to the surnames beginning with L.’
‘Yes.’
‘Who is the third listed client name under the L?’
‘Roger Lee.’
‘Move further down to the clients whose names begin with P. Who is the second name listed?’
‘Denis Payne.’
‘Spelt with a “y” in the name, correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘So when you claim you heard Trevor saying Dench needed a good rogering and to feel some pain, you got it wrong, didn’t you? He was talking clients to Donaldson, wasn’t he?’
The gap between Vickers’ eyebrows closed. ‘I acknowledge those names are there, but in the relevant context, I don’t believe I misheard.’
‘Trevor’s been right all along about your reliability, hasn’t he?’
‘No.’
‘You mishear and misconstrue things.’
‘No.’
Shaking his head, Fitzpatrick said, ‘And you say your evidence today is not the slightest bit motivated by being turned down for partnership.’
‘No, it’s not. I'm here under subpoena.’
‘I suggest that you’re a disaffected malcontent seeking retribution and fifteen minutes of fame?’
‘That’s rubbish.’
Sasha, unruffled by Fitzpatrick’s attack, smiled at Vickers and thanked him as he left the witness box. She then called the paramedics who attended the various scenes.
Fitzpatrick let the first paramedic go without questions. He got the other to concede that it wasn’t usual practice to take registration numbers of vehicles when they attended medical emergencies, then showed him a police job sheet and had him read it to the jury.
‘At Mr Dench’s apartment, we both noticed a vehicle pulling away from us. It was 10.55 PM. The car was about twenty metres away from us.’
‘Carry on, please,’ said Fitzpatrick.
‘I noticed the registration plate had two Ts in it. I think it could have been TITMAN.’
‘You’d seen that plate around the city before?’
‘I think so, yes.’
‘Now I want to be very fair to you, Mr Walker.’ Sasha glanced at the judge to see if he shared her view – that the last thing on Fitzpatrick’s mind was fairness. She got no clue.
‘With your prior knowledge of this registration plate in your mind, isn’t it true that when Officer James took your statement, it was possible he may have suggested it was TITMAN?’
‘It’s possible, yes.’
‘And there was a street light out on the Hagley Park side of the road where you were parked, wasn’t there?’
‘Yes, but there was sufficient light to see.’
‘But you wouldn’t be expected to have pin-point accuracy on registration numbers of moving vehicles, especially when your primary concerns were patient safety. That’s fair, isn’t it?’
Sasha shook her head at the mini-speech for the jury dressed up as a question. She looked at Bowen. He responded. ‘Mr Fitzpatrick, you know better than that. Speeches to the jury come later.’
‘I’m obliged to Your Honour.’ Fitzpatrick’s concession was followed by a sweeping gesture of his right arm. The jury recognised he’d been put in his place but the faces of some said that they still found him entertaining.
Chapter 36
Aware that any session after lunch needed an interesting witness to minimise inevitable drowsiness and the shutdown of neurons, Sasha called husband and wife Wally and Molly Flanagan. They told of seeing Thomas at Donaldson’s apartment at the time of his death and the day after when Thomas faked a murder accusation against Dench. Short of word perfect, both told the same story.
The first thing Fitzpatrick did was to establish that they’d embellished their evidence to the jury about his client dropping a rope in the boot of his car. In their statement to the police they’d said only that the man leant into the boot.
‘Mr Flanagan, would you agree you had no particular reason to notice the man on the first occasion you say you saw him?’
Chastened by the point already scored off him, Wally answered, ‘No reason to notice him, but notice him we did.’ Standing and looking at Fitzpatrick, he looked vigilant. No smart-arse lawyer from Belfast was going to put words in his mouth or twist what an honest Dubliner had to say.
‘What time did you settle in for your wine drinking session?’
Hands on hips, tone indignant, ‘We didn’t have a wine drinking session.’
‘Did you not tell us earlier you were enjoying wine at the bar opposite your apartment building?’
‘We had a glass before dinner. Probably between five and five-thirty.’ Fitzpatrick shot a look at the jury.
Through a series of questions, Fitzpatrick demonstrated to the jury that Wally Flanagan described a man he didn’t know, better than his own neighbour, whom he’d seen hundreds of times.
‘Did the police ask you to attend an identity parade to assist you to identify the man you say you saw?’
‘No, they did not.’
‘Do you read The Press or The People, Mr Flanagan?’
‘One or other, every day.’
‘You will have seen Mr Thomas’s photograph in the paper.’
‘Of course.’
‘So between the time you observed him in the car park that day to now, you haven’t seen him except for a photo. Is that right?’
‘Correct.’
‘And when you identify him in court today sitting between two prison officers, it’s pretty obvious who you’re expected to identify, isn’t it?’
‘That was him all right.’
‘Would you agree, that after all this time it would be embarrassing to admit you had more alcohol than you’ve admitted to?’
‘I’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.’
‘I’m sorry to have to put this to you, Mr Flanagan, but evidence will be given by a private investigator engaged by the defence, that for over a period of one month after Mr Donaldson died, it was your daily practice to consume four to five glasses of wine every night. What do you say to that?’
Sasha rose to object on the grounds of relevance but Wally was quick with his reply. ‘It wouldn’t be that much. Anyway, after what happened, I probably did have a few more drinks to settle the nerves. It’s not every day one of your neighbours gets murdered.’
Fitzpatrick contrived to look shocked. ‘The police told you Mr Donaldson had been murdered?’
‘Well, I ah, I can’t be sure if it was them, or the media folk.’
But Finn Fitzpatrick had scored another point.
Kent Sligh was the last witness for the day. Sasha, aware of media suggestions about his impropriety, gave her witness an opportunity to explain.
Fitzpatrick and Thomas had agreed earlier they needed to stay clear of alleging dodgy dealings and any reference to demanding his money back.
‘When you’re not in your office do you lock it, Mr Sligh?’ asked Fitzpatrick.
‘Not when I’m in the building, no. When we go home, the building rather than individual offices is locked.’
‘How did you put the two hundred thousand dollars on the credit card for Mr Thomas?’
‘He gave me an imprint and signature.’
‘And you saw him late in the day if I recall?’
‘I’d need to check my diary, but if you say so.’
‘Would I be right in thinking you put all the relevant paper documentation you needed in a file for that purpose?’
‘Yes.’
‘With his name on the outside?’
‘Yes.’
‘When you arrived at work the next day to process the application, was the file on your desk as you left it?’
‘Yes.’
‘How many staff do you have in your company?’
‘Apart from the two directors, we have ten other staff, five of whom are brokers.’
‘Any of them could go into your unlocked office at any time you weren’t there?
‘Well – technically, I suppose that’s correct.’
‘Did you ask Mr Thomas the purpose of the loan?’
‘I don’t recall specifically?’
‘Did you ask him why he wanted several bank cheques?’
‘That wasn’t my business.’
‘Quite. You were only interested in making a fat fee, weren’t you?’ Without waiting for an answer, Fitzpatrick said, ‘Thank you, Mr Sligh.’
When the Crown had no re-examination, Sligh couldn’t get out of the court fast enough. Away from the jury’s line of sight, Fitzpatrick winked at Thomas as if to say that all had gone as well as it could be expected.
Tyler, listening to the end of Sligh’s evidence, felt sick. Just be careful. This could all get awkward. His team hadn’t considered the fraud opportunity angle that Fitzpatrick had opened up.
A court reporter for The Press, later told Tyler later that Thomas stared towards him, obviously keen to meet Tyler’s eye.
‘There’s no love lost between Mr Thomas and me,’ Tyler said. I’m, not interested in receiving any threatening gestures from that man.’
Chapter 37
Pat Cadveron’s reputation preceded him. He’d featured in the media a month before the trial describing macabre scenes he’d attended, and how he’d helped police piece together clues leading to causes of death. Knowing this would be a critical point in the trial, Sasha readied herself as her witness took the oath. She led him through his qualifications and practical experience in forensic pathology, which included close to a thousand post mortems.
Keen to show her witness as independent from the police, Sasha asked, ‘And do you give evidence only for the prosecution, professor?’
‘Not at all. I have given evidence for the defence and have provided second opinions for both prosecution and defence.’
Sasha paused and glanced at the jury. ‘What’s important to you in arriving at a conclusion about any death you review and report on?’
‘It’s not my main role to determine why a person died, but what they died from. The distinction is important because evidence about what caused a death has to be considered in the context of other evidence.’
The whole court heard Fitzpatrick say aloud, ‘That’s for sure.’
Bowen put his pen down and clasped his hands in front of him. ‘Mr Fitzpatrick, I trust you don’t intend the discourtesy you display when you remain seated, muttering your distracting comments loudly enough for all to hear. You know full well what the correct procedure is if you wish to take objection to any evidence.’
Fitzpatrick stood. ‘Your Honour, far from objecting, I was endorsing the evidence of the pathological professor.’
‘We all know what you were doing. And that term you just used is offensive, despite your undoubted intention to amuse the court.’
Fitzpatrick knew he’d cop it from Bowen at some stage in the trial. He stood with his mouth open and arms outstretched.
‘If you wish to stipulate acceptance of any evidence you also know the correct procedure for that. You are not to sit behind Ms Stace and interrupt. Is that clear?’
‘Perfectly, Your Honour. I unhesitatingly and unreservedly apologise to the witness and Your Honour, and will endeavour to change that which is acceptable to the rest of your learned brethren.’
Bowen gave a decisive shake of his head. ‘No, Mr Fitzpatrick. I won’t have that. That is not an unreserved apology. It is of no interest to me what shenanigans and tomfoolery my learned brethren let you get away with. I expect all counsel appearing before me to treat witnesses and everyone else in this court with courtesy.’
All remnants of smiles on the jurors’ faces had long since disappeared.
‘I hope I’ve made myself clear.’ Bowen looked at Sasha and nodded.
Standing erect, the pale-faced Cadveron went through all his reports to the police in detail and concluded that the injection points underneath the ligature marks on all three bodies were an attempt to hide victim disablement.
Sasha asked, ‘How did you satisfy yourself that the marks you say were hidden, were in fact caused by needles and not accidentally, for example by a coarse thread or something within the rope itself?’
‘When I dissected the relevant tissue in each case I observed a red streak line extending from the skin through the fat cells and into the vein. In my view, that couldn’t have been anything other than an injection.’
Pretending to read from notes, Sasha said, ‘Yet there was no toxicology indicating anything unusual in the blood or organs of the deceased.’ She looked up. ‘Why not?’
‘Although it disables a person, succinylcholine breaks down within minutes of administration into succinic acid and choline. It’s normal for those two compounds to be found in human tissues so unless large amounts of sux are injected, it’s impossible to detect.’ Cadveron sipped water. ‘However, large amounts are likely to cause the respiratory system to fail and show elevated levels of succinic acid and choline in the blood or organs. None of the deceased died as a result of respiratory failure in that way.’
After Sasha had finished, Bowen cut in. ‘Mr Fitzpatrick, given you will have a number of matters to traverse, I think now’s a convenient moment to take the adjournment.’ He didn’t wait for a response and was quickly out the door.
In the cells Thomas asked, ‘We’re doing okay, Fitzy?’
Fitzpatrick rubbed his hands, acknowledging the difference in temperature between the warm courtroom and the cooler cells. ‘We’ve made inroads with every witness.’
Thomas nodded, then stared at his brief. ‘You know, you’ve never asked me if I did it – killed those guys, I mean.’
‘I don’t need to, Trev. If you told me you did it, it would limit my options. I couldn’t, for example, let you go into the witness box and lie, could I?’
‘I’m not that stupid. What do you take me for? But I’m telling you now. I didn’t do it and I want to say that in court.’
‘Appreciate that, Trev. But it’s important we reserve our position on you giving evidence. This case is built on circumstance so it may not be necessary. And I’ve seen Sasha cross-examining. She’s got a knack of presuming guilt and defying you to show otherwise. That’s to be avoided if at all possible.’
‘I’m not frightened of that smart-arse bitch. If it hadn’t been for my stupid daughter, and that idiot Marshall Hall prosecuting, I’d have wiped the floor with her a few months ago.’
Fitzpatrick shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he’d thought this was a client who could be his own worst enemy.
Back in court, Fitzpatrick asked the pathologist to confirm that he initially thought Apsley died of asphyxiation, ‘most likely associated with a bungled act of autoeroticism’.
‘That was my early opinion, yes,’ said Cadveron. ‘And I revised that.’
‘You change like the wind, do you?’
Sasha jumped to her feet, exasperated. ‘Your Honour, that’s not called for. The witness is an expert. He’s entitled to express an opinion and he will say, if Mr Fitzpatrick lets him speak, that like any other expert, he will revise his opinion if the facts upon which it is formed, change.’
‘Move along, Mr Fitzpatrick, preferably without the gratuitous remarks.’ The judge nodded at Cadveron to continue.
Fitzpatrick probed and argued for two hours. Whe
re Sasha was focusing mainly on proving Thomas killed Dench and relying on similarities with the other deaths, Fitzpatrick was determined to focus on Apsley’s death – the weakest part of the Crown case. He took issue with the fact that Cadveron didn’t attend the Apsley scene, the impact of the body being moved, the amount and impact of alcohol in the deceased’s blood, the relevance of Apsley’s sexual lifestyle and on the issue of sux being administered before death.
‘I’m not sure if you said earlier how many autopsies you’ve performed that have involved succinylcholine. Do you know?’
‘I’ve been involved in three other deaths involving succinylcholine.’
Fitzpatrick feigned surprise. ‘As few as three? And how many of those three involved sux injections that were for non-medical reasons as you suggest in this case?’
‘None.’
The jurors looked at one another and the gallery’s murmuring reached Fitzpatrick’s ear, spurring him to shake his head.
‘So this is the first time in your illustrious career Professor that you’ve ever come into court to claim a drug that couldn’t be detected, preceded the deaths of three men. Is that right?’
‘Very many people more illustrious than me have discovered an event for the first time. Just as I’m sure you still hope to defend someone you believe is innocent.’
Sasha smiled.
Undeterred, Fitzpatrick continued. ‘In order to verify your hitherto untested theory, what experiments have you conducted?’
‘I’m not sure what experiments you refer to. I’m not an anaesthetist and no medical person can inject another with a dangerous drug and at various intervals across three days, cut away inches of their human tissue for microscopic analysis.’ The riposte resulted in loud laughter throughout the court. Cadveron grinned and took another drink from the glass.
‘You know full well, that in the world of medicine all sorts of experiments are performed on live animals in order that we extend our knowledge of the discipline?’
‘I performed none.’
‘So not only have you not tested your theory with valid medical experiments, you’ve used the deaths of the other two men to form a view about Apsley.’
‘That is partially correct. At first I thought something else may have accounted for the mark in Apsley’s neck. I was disturbed that it wasn’t easily accounted for.’