Shepherds and Butchers Page #5

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the trapdoors opening.

Proceed.

Take your time.

Tell it slowly.

I smelled the rope.

Could taste

the smell of the rope

in my throat.

The quarry, Mr. labuschagne,

what occurred there?

I can't remember.

So, that's it,

you can't remember?

Mr. weber,

do you have anything else

for the defense?

Mr. labuschagne,

what happened next?

What do you remember?

Mr. labuschagne!

Mr. weber,

this is highly improper!

Will you return

to the bar at once.

I'm sorry, my lord.

And so you should be.

It should never happen again.

Do you have any

other line of questioning

for this witness at

this time, Mr. weber?

My lord,

i have no further questions.

Thank you.

Miss marais.

As the court pleases.

So, you say that

the execution process

and the work in the pit room

upset you greatly.

Is that what you're saying?

You have to speak up.

The evidence

has to be recorded

and a nod or

a shake of your head

will not be recorded.

Miss marais is right.

Speak up and direct

your answers to us.

So, you're saying

that the execution process

and the work in the pit room

upset you greatly.

Yes.

But weren't you

playing the fool

in all

the sections of the prison,

including the gallows room,

the pit room,

and even the chapel?

No.

Let me see if I can

give your memory a jolt.

Can you recall

an occasion when you

gave a new warder a fright

by putting white

chalk on your face

and hiding in

one of the freezers

in the autopsy room?

It wasn't me.

But you smiled

when I reminded you

of the incident. Why?

Don't know that I smiled.

So, what is your answer?

You remember the incident,

do you?

I heard about it.

You climbed up on the catwalk

and scared prisoners

by making ghost noises.

It's not true.

You sprayed the other warders

with the hose

while cleaning the pit room.

Some of us got

wet while cleaning.

You once put a lit cigarette

in the mouth of

an executed prisoner

before closing his coffin.

And the smoke leaked out

with his family

there for the funeral.

It wasn't me.

All you have

to do is say yes or no.

If any explanation is needed,

i will ask you

for an explanation.

Otherwise, you can leave

your explanations for later

when your

advocate re-examines you.

And do not speak

to miss marais.

Address your answers to me.

You collected beads.

No.

New coffins arrived with lids

that came in two pieces,

a head piece and

a longer body piece.

So that you could

get your fingers

beneath the head piece

to open the coffin,

they pre-set

little plastic beads

beneath the lid, didn't they?

Yellow ones,

green ones, white ones,

and even little pink ones.

They're washers.

They're washers, you say.

Yes.

You collected these washers.

You kept a washer

for every prisoner

you escorted to the gallows,

didn't you?

It wasn't like that.

You kept one

washer from each coffin

like notches on

a gunslinger's six-shooter.

You did so because there was

a competition between warders

to see who could

collect the most,

wasn't there?

I was ordered to do the work.

Please look at

this photograph.

These are

the washers you collected

before you were arrested,

correct?

Yes.

You kept these

washers in your drawer.

This photograph was

taken at your house

when the police searched it.

You'd placed

the washers from the 8th and

the 9th on the string already,

hadn't you?

You'll have to speak.

Yes.

I suggest to you

that your evidence that

you were upset by

the execution process

and the work you had

to do in the pit room

is just a facade

and that, in truth,

you actually enjoyed the work.

In fact, you got used

to this special work

very quickly, didn't you?

The special work of killing.

That must've made

you feel important

and powerful,

knowing that you could kill

and not be prosecuted for it.

No one except us

knew about

the work we're doing.

So, how would that

make me feel

important or powerful?

Don't ask me questions.

You knew

you were immune

to prosecution,

that you had

the blessing of the law,

didn't you?

We didn't do the killing,

the hangman did.

Yet you've told

the court that you had to

pull prisoners up by the neck

and drop them again,

haven't you?

Yes, but we didn't actually

touch the prisoners.

We only touched the rope.

It was what

the warrant

officer told us to do!

But you dropped them again

so that their necks

would break cleanly,

didn't you?

Yes.

So, in those cases,

the executioner

pushed the lever,

but his hand did not cause

the prisoner's

neck to break, did it?

Your hands did.

My lord, with respect,

the question is

actually an argument

and not a question

the witness can answer.

You told us Mr. labuschagne's

state of mind was relevant,

and that every

bit of information

that has a bearing

on his state of mind

is admissible.

So,

I'd like to hear the answer.

You physically

raised the prisoners

and then dropped them again

so that they would die.

Yes.

When a prisoner's neck broke,

after the trapdoor had opened,

you saw the executioner's hand

as the one that

had done the killing.

Yes, it was his hand.

So, by the same token,

when you hauled a prisoner up

dropped him down,

and his neck broke,

it was not

the executioner's hand

that did the killing, was it?

I see what you mean.

So, it was your hand

that did the killing.

And it was your hand that

did the killing at the quarry,

too, wasn't it?

You can't

remember what happened

at the quarry,

is that what you say?

But I've told you

what I can remember.

You claim you have no memory

of the shooting.

Is that how we are to

understand your evidence?

But I can't remember!

So, your defense

is not that you

didn't shoot them,

but that you can't

remember shooting them.

Is that how we are

to understand it?

My lord,

it's not for the accused

to answer questions of law.

I alone can answer questions

such as those proposed

by my learned friend.

No more questions, my lord.

Mr. weber, do you intend

to re-examine the accused?

If it pleases my lord.

You killed them.

Everyone knows that.

Isn't that right?

Isn't that right, Mr.

labuschagne?

I don't know.

I mean, it must've been me.

But I don't understand.

Two years ago,

you were a school prefect

and active in the church.

And now you're here in court,

on trial for murder.

How did that happen?

I don't know.

You were a husband, a father,

but now neither your wife

nor your daughter will

visit you in the cells

and they've not

attended court, either,

have they?

What brought

about this change,

Mr. labuschagne?

Tell us what happened,

the reasons you

fired those shots.

Mr. labuschagne!

You were having problems,

weren't you?

So, why didn't you go

to the warrant officer

and ask to seek for help?

A psychiatrist

could've helped you!

Why didn't you tell me?

Before I started

hurting my wife.

Mr. labuschagne.

Before I lost everything.

Before I killed seven people!

Mr. labuschagne!

Why didn't you tell me!

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