The hanging of Ray Williams - Part 2

The last witness was Ray’s son, Stuart. I had never met Stuart prior to that day. What an impressive bloke he turned out to be. How it moved me to hear a man speak in such adoring terms of his dad. I truly thought the days of, “When I grow up I want to be like dad” were over. Stuart was a son any dad would be proud of and a man who had unashamedly modelled himself on his father.

And then the case was over!

In a perfect world, the judge would have thrown down his gavel at this point, cried “case dismissed” and led the procession out of the court, as we carried Ray on our shoulders.

But we don’t live in a perfect world. The gavel fell and the courtroom emptied quickly, as media vultures scurried out onto the street to hover around the getaway cars. Judgment would be given in a month. I had been warned this would be the process. The judge would want to give the impression he was pondering everything before making his decision. Perhaps he really would consider it all seriously? Surely the day’s events could not have failed but to make an impression on him.

I would have loved to have taken the stand myself that day, to stand alongside that great array of witnesses and add my testimony. The legal people had decided against it. My testimonial had been submitted in written form. I guess Ray’s team knew something of my propensity to shoot my mouth off at inappropriate times. Perhaps that was for the best. Certainly, if I had known what awaited us on judgment day, I would have had trouble holding back my contempt for the Australian legal system.

Read part 3 here.