The One-Armed Thief

The One-Armed Thief

Judges have a difficult job. They sit in a lawcourt and listen to stories - stories from the prosecutor, from the lawyers, from the accused. But whose story is the truth, and whose is a lie?

Abdul is confident that he understands the judge. But the judge is also confident that she understands Abdul…

For five years Abdul had been a beggar at the dusty Maraba crossroads. He had learnt how to work on people’s feelings, like an actor. He always knew the right face to wear. There was one face which made people feel so sorry for him that his begging bowl rang with the sound of their coins. But there were some passers-by who kept their money tightly in their pockets and refused to give to beggars. For these people he had another face, one which made them feel so bad that they could not sleep at nights.

Today, in Abuja’s main courtroom, as Abdul stood surrounded by police and lawyers, it was easy for him to decide which face to wear. ‘This judge will never sleep well if she finds me guilty,’ he thought to himself.

‘Your worship, this man is a thief,’ said the prosecutor, pointing at Abdul. ‘A shopkeeper caught him running away with a sack of rice.’

The judge’s stare was almost frightening. Her sharp eyes shone with intelligence, and although she was only forty-something, she seemed to have several lifetimes of experience. Abdul met her look with dull, miserable eyes, then lowered his head and stared at his feet. It was an expression that had never failed him - the sad, thoughtful eyes of a dog, with the shyness of a trembling young bride.

‘Your worship,’ said Abdul’s lawyer, ‘this is the kind of stupid mistake the Nigerian police are famous for. How can a one-armed man steal a fifty-kilogram sack of rice? Even I cannot lift that sack onto my back with my two arms. I understand that the accused had a regular begging place outside the shop. He informs me, and I truly believe him, that the shopkeeper threatened to do anything possible to move him away from the front of the shop. He has been falsely accused!’

The judge’s eyes showed that a battle between feeling and reason was taking place inside her head. Abdul lifted the stump of his right arm and scratched his face with it. His arm had been cut off at the elbow, and the stump was clearly visible. It looked so ugly that most people felt very sorry for him as soon as they saw it.

‘This is not the first time this man has stolen-’ the prosecutor said.

Abdul’s lawyer jumped up. ‘Your worship, the prosecutor is being unfair. It’s true that the accused was once a thief. In fact, a court in another part of the country ordered his right arm to be cut off as a punishment. But that was years ago, and since then he has stolen nothing.’

‘We know that he has been involved in seven recent robberies,’ the prosecutor continued. ‘Your worship, believe me, hardened thieves like him don’t change easily.’

The cool wind blowing into the courtroom failed to dry Abdul’s hot, wet forehead. He shook his head slowly. He stared down at the sack of rice, which was on the floor between the rows of lawyers, and a sigh escaped his lips. It was the long-suffering sigh of a man who accepts that he is going to be punished for something he did not do.

The judge’s eyes were fierce as she spoke to the prosecutor. ‘You bad man! You’re supposed to prosecute people who have done wrong, not attack those who are innocent! Have you no heart left in you?’

Her expression softened as she turned to Abdul. ‘The court apologizes to you. You can go home. And take the sack of rice with you. I hope it will help you to forget all this unpleasantness. Go on, carry the sack of rice and go home right now!’

Abdul could not believe his ears. He turned around, and in two steps he had reached the sack of rice. He put his left arm around it, dropped on one knee, touched his head to the ground, and with a sudden, fast movement of his back and arm, lifted the sack onto his shoulders.

He stood up again with difficulty, bent over by the heavy sack. ‘Thank you very much, your worship,’ he said, trying to catch his breath.

‘Thank you too,’ the judge said. ‘Police, arrest him!’