"Everything I said was the series of events told by the wife. Her name is Ling Yi Sha and since nobody else witnessed what happened or could provide any clues, I could only rely on her testimony to make a judgment." Magistrate Dong reluctantly sighs.
"What about the coroner's report?" I ask the magistrate curiously.
"Eleven stabs in total. All of the stabs were done in a short time frame so the coroner is unable to tell the sequence in which the stabs occurred. The coroner report states that three of the stabs were done from the back, and the fatal stab was one of the stabs from the back that punctured the victim's heart."
"The victim's throat was also slit and the victim's face was sliced once. Besides the three stabs from the back, the other stabs were all around the victim's upper chest." The magistrate answered as if reading from a script. He must have memorized or remembered the specifics.
"Shouldn't you have found it suspicious when there were stabs on both the front and back of the victim? Also slitting the victim's throat and slicing his face is excessive." Judge Tang asks while munching on some food.
"During the trial, I asked the accused about it but she said that she lost control of herself and could not remember what happened during the fight. She also said that she was mentally abused and that her husband had perverse sexual tendencies, and would beat and scold her if she did not agree to his abnormal role play and positions." Magistrate Dong calmy replied.
Judge Cui, who looked like he did not care about the conversation and was happily munching on the food raised his eyebrow and gave a weird look at Magistrate Dong and asked, "So you believed her?"
"No, but I asked her to describe the things that she was made to do and she told us quite a number of things that her husband suggested her to engage in open court. The relatives of the victim who were present that day started to throw rubbish at her and the friends of the victim riled up the townsfolk who were watching and got them to throw their rubbish at her too."
"Friends of the victim eventually offered themselves to be witnesses and said that they were not aware that the couple had a bad relationship. They were only married for one and a half year and their child is a child out of wedlock. In fact, the day before the victim was killed, they had a family outing to the market and many townsfolk and friends spotted them." the magistrate continued explaining the facts of the fact.
Although I am interested in hearing more, I am getting tired and could not resist yawning out. Judge Cui was still happily gorging himself and Judge Tang said "I guess everyone is tired, just tell us our decision to end the story. It doesn't seem like there will be any way to seek an appeal for this case anyway since the wife was the only one at the scene and there are no more witnesses."
"I sentenced her to a year in jail on the basis that she acted in self defence and that she was suffering from mental issues." Magistrate Dong said with a smile, probably relieved that Judge Tang said that an appeal was unlikely.
I've long finished my dinner and stand up after giving magistrate Dong a nod, "Thank you for the hospitable welcome and the delicious food, it has been a long day for us so I will retreat first." And walk back to my room.
"Everything I said was the series of events told by the wife. Her name is Ling Yi Sha and since nobody else witnessed what happened or could provide any clues, I could only rely on her testimony to make a judgment." Magistrate Dong reluctantly sighs.
"What about the coroner's report?" I ask the magistrate curiously.
"Eleven stabs in total. All of the stabs were done in a short time frame so the coroner is unable to tell the sequence in which the stabs occurred. The coroner report states that three of the stabs were done from the back, and the fatal stab was one of the stabs from the back that punctured the victim's heart."
"The victim's throat was also slit and the victim's face was sliced once. Besides the three stabs from the back, the other stabs were all around the victim's upper chest." The magistrate answered as if reading from a script. He must have memorized or remembered the specifics.
"Shouldn't you have found it suspicious when there were stabs on both the front and back of the victim? Also slitting the victim's throat and slicing his face is excessive." Judge Tang asks while munching on some food.
"During the trial, I asked the accused about it but she said that she lost control of herself and could not remember what happened during the fight. She also said that she was mentally abused and that her husband had perverse sexual tendencies, and would beat and scold her if she did not agree to his abnormal role play and positions." Magistrate Dong calmy replied.
Judge Cui, who looked like he did not care about the conversation and was happily munching on the food raised his eyebrow and gave a weird look at Magistrate Dong and asked, "So you believed her?"
"No, but I asked her to describe the things that she was made to do and she told us quite a number of things that her husband suggested her to engage in open court. The relatives of the victim who were present that day started to throw rubbish at her and the friends of the victim riled up the townsfolk who were watching and got them to throw their rubbish at her too."
"Friends of the victim eventually offered themselves to be witnesses and said that they were not aware that the couple had a bad relationship. They were only married for one and a half year and their child is a child out of wedlock. In fact, the day before the victim was killed, they had a family outing to the market and many townsfolk and friends spotted them." the magistrate continued explaining the facts of the fact.
Although I am interested in hearing more, I am getting tired and could not resist yawning out. Judge Cui was still happily gorging himself and Judge Tang said "I guess everyone is tired, just tell us our decision to end the story. It doesn't seem like there will be any way to seek an appeal for this case anyway since the wife was the only one at the scene and there are no more witnesses."
"I sentenced her to a year in jail on the basis that she acted in self defence and that she was suffering from mental issues." Magistrate Dong said with a smile, probably relieved that Judge Tang said that an appeal was unlikely.
I've long finished my dinner and stand up after giving magistrate Dong a nod, "Thank you for the hospitable welcome and the delicious food, it has been a long day for us so I will retreat first." And walk back to my room.
