CHAPTER 49
THE TAKING AND HEARING OF A CASE
Before a case was heard, the plaintiff and defendant each brought a bundle of sticks. These sticks were used to count the number of questions asked. Whenever a question was asked, a stick was dropped from the bundle. The sticks were also used to numerate the things included in the charge brought by the plaintiff; for every thing or person named, a stick was placed before the judge. Then the used sticks were tied up and kept as a record of the cases in that count.
On cross- examining the defendant, the court made use of the plaintiff’s sticks; the defendant was asked to say which sticks he agreed with and which sticks he disagreed with, and the two would be separated. The sticks would also be kept separately according to the things named in the charge; the sticks for cattle, goats or any other things were kept separately. After the court had given its decision, the one found guilty would be fined or asked to refund, according to the number of sticks brought against him. The sticks would be kept until the fine or debt was cleared.
The various cases were heard whenever the court was in session. In the council, the Katikiro took the chair whenever a case was heard. The cases were heard according to their nature and if witnesses were available, the evidence would be given before passing judgement. The sentence passed was often in accordance with the weight of the crime. The heaviest sentences were passed in cases of murder, witchcraft, theft and kidnapping; but, as it has already been noted, the sentence would be carried out only with the approval of the king.
The smaller councils of chiefs and landowners also heard cases in the same manner but they had no power to pass such heavy sentences without special permission from the king or the Katikiro.
In a case of ambiguity or lack of evidence, an enquiry was often carried out to discover the truth. For instance, if property was stolen and lost completely, a search would be carried out and any suspect’s house would be inspected. The search for the stolen property was carried out in many ways but four of these -were the most frequently used:
a) The council would collect together all known thieves and suspects in the area. The collection of such people was done early in the morning so that by about 9.00a.m. the court would be ready to sit. On being quite convinced that the criminals were in the group, the council would then apply one of the devices used to find out a thief. The council would inform the group that the reason for their being collected together that morning was because they were all suspected of stealing someone’s things, and that the criminal was advised to give himself up before the court found him out by casting lots. In most cases the thief felt intimidated and so reported himself; but if no body would denounce himself, the court would then authorize a witch-doctor to apply the magical herbs by which the criminal would be found out. The herbs would be administered on a new banana leaf without holes.
The banana leaf would be put on the ground and over it would be put a flat basket, on which a small clay pot containing the herbs or medicine would be placed. Then each of the suspects would be asked to spit in the pot and each time the witch-doctor would put some dry leaves in the pot and light a fire. As the fire burned, the witch-doctor took the pot and overturned it on to the banana leaf beneath containing some water. If the pot absorbed all the water on the banana leaf, the man who had spat in the pot was thus convicted; but if the water remained unabsorbed, the man would be released. This was the first device used to find out a thief and it was often successful.
b) For the second device, the witch-doctor had a metal hoe and a bird’s feather. He then put the hoe in fire and heated it until it was red hot. Then one by one of the suspects were made to spit on the feather, which the witch-doctor would in turn put on the red-hot metal. If the feather caught fire, the man who had spat on it was thus convicted and apprehended for the offence; but if the feather did not catch fire, the man would be released.
c) The third way in which the criminal would be found out was by using a small clay pot once again. The witch-doctor put some medicine in the pot and then invited each of the suspected criminals to spit into it. Then he dropped some dried leaves into the pot and lighted them; instead of over-turning the pot on some water, he put the pot on the stomach of the man. If the latter was the criminal, the pot took a firm and painful grip on the man’s stomach and he was then charged with theft. On the other hand, if the pot failed to take such a grip on his stomach, the man was let go.
d) In this method the witch-doctor took an old and out-of-use hoe and heated it red-hot. Taking the suspected criminals one by one, the witchdoctor placed the red-hot hoe, on their legs. If any of them got burnt on the leg by the hot hoe, that person would be held guilty of the crime. Anybody innocent of the crime was never burnt even if the hot hoe was placed on his leg.
If any person in any village within the kingdom became infected with leprosy, scabies or any other deadly disease, his relatives at once suspected witchcraft by somebody. Anybody suspected of this crime would be reported to the chiefs and elders, who would then call a meeting of the whole village for the purpose of confirming the suspected criminals. The diseased person present would then be given a bowl of water into which every person present would dip his hand, taking an oath at the same time to the effect that if he (the man dipping his hand into the bowl) was guilty of the crime, the diseased man would soon get cured of the disease, but if the former was innocent, there would be no hope of getting cured. On finshing his turn, every person walked away.
Even relatives of the sick person were asked to take the oath. In many cases some diseased people who received such oaths were cured without medicine. The reason for this was that the witch-doctor guilty of the crime often applied some efficacious medicine before taking the oath whereby he dipped his hand into the bowl of water and sprinkled water over the diseased person. So it was not the mere ‘Yes’ which was uttered in the oath that actually cured the disease.
Once everybody had finished taking the oath, the water in the bowl was poured over the diseased person. If he was cured after sometime, everybody then confirmed the suspect as the witch-doctor responsible for the disease but nothing was done to him.
If a person was bewitched and died, the person most dear to the dead person - often a woman - took some earth as it was being poured into the grave and kept it. After the burial some of this earth was sprinkled over the banana trees in the neighbourhood of the grave. The meaning of this was to enable the ghost to travel freely over the place before the witchdoctor came back to do his worst by imprisoning the ghost so that he could destroy it.
The rest of the earth was secretly mixed with some drink which was then offered to the suspected person to drink. If the suspected person was really guilty of the crime, he died as a result of drinking that drink but if he was innocent, he would not be affected. Of course, everything was done so secretly that the victim was never aware of the trick regarding the drink. Although there was not much publicity, the relatives of the dead man rejoiced greatly if the suspected man was victimized by the drink.
If the relatives of the dead man failed to discover the criminal who might have bewitched the man, they tried some other means. This time they sought for a witch-doctor by whose magic the criminal would be found out and killed. In most cases the witch-doctor executed his duty by burying some magic in the grave of the dead man. This magic was supposed to kill the person whom the relatives of the dead person were suspecting. If no such death resulted, the magic was considered a failure and a new Witch-doctor was called in. The new doctor also buried his magic in the grave and if it failed to kill the suspected criminal, another doctor would again be called. This sort of thing would go on until the relatives came across a successful doctor. The successful doctor would then be praised and given plenty of things.
The relatives of the dead man would never retaliate because they were convinced that their person was worth it as a result of the crime he had committed. This practice of retaliation was a private affair undertaken only by the relatives of the dead man; the chiefs had no hand in it; it was not done officially.