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Defence speech of the lwyer - Referat
John's defence lawyer's speech
Honourable judge, members of the jury and ladies and gentlemen,
I will support the defendant and plead not guilty. There are a number of factors which have not been taken into account yet but which play a big role in the question of who is at fault. Of course it is the easy solution to find the most obvious scapegoat and blame Mr. John for everything however we have to look at his situation and surroundings as well.
He has never had an easy life. He grew up being torn apart between two cultures, having to adapt to a strictly religious lifestyle at home he also had to find away to change his character outside from his family in order to be able to treat the village people with respect and love. When the incident between Wamuhu and him occurred, he was split between the two sides: Should he admit it to his father and ruin his whole future as he would not have gotten the scholarship after all and would have been disowned as well? Or should he wait until Wamuhu would have told everyone and he would have been cast out of the religious society for good? He did not have a choice which didn't carry the consequence of ruining his future forever. This huge pressure on him on finding the right solution led to him panicking and making tragic decisions. And it is all down to his father who had preached to him from a young age how vitally crucial it was for John to never break the rules of church and therefore was a very strict father who oppressed john from childhood onwards. John can therefore not be accounted fully responsible as he merely acted out of the strict lifestyle he was pushed in.
As well as John's father there is another person who we should take a closer look at. Wamuhu is being portrayed as the innocent victim but there are always two involved in a relationship so she should take as much guilt on her as John does. John is a well respected white man who I suppose most village girls would give a lot for to marry. Who says Wamuhu didn't bribe John into giving her money so she would keep quiet about her pregnancy but at one point John just couldn't deal with that anymore? Maybe John isn't even the father of her child but she pretended he was in order to put pressure on him and get what she wants. Even if this turns out to be false she still exerted a huge moral pressure on him by giving him a short time limit where she knew he would panic because of the upcoming university scholarship. As she has not blamed rape on John we know it was her free will to have sexual intercourse with him and if she had anything up her sleeve from the start this would be the perfect way for her to seduce him and get him under control in order to make him do whatever she wants.
In conclusion there are other people, especially John's father and Wamuhu who play a big role in this crime. Also the outside circumstance forced John into things he wouldn't have done if he had lived under different conditions. I hope you will be as attentive as I am towards these different factors and reconsider your view of John.
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