The case of Britannia vs the Dark Tower and Ravenshire continued last night with questioning of perhaps one of the most critical witnesses to the case: the Widow, Fazhnjell.
Full court transcript can be found here: http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=195207
Within her testimony, the Widow disclosed several secrets, including the complex truth of her age and rumor of a hidden housekeeping passageway to the Royal Treasury. Could this passageway have been used by the thieves to gain access? While details of the mechanism of the passageway were shared only with the Judge within the courtroom, reporters with escort of Castle guard were shown the location of the empty Britannian vaults, robbed clean of their treasures.
The Widow also gave her account of the night of the burglary, in which she accused the defendants of pillaging Britain's storerooms and threatening her to keep silent on threat of harm to the citizens of Britannia at large.
Attorneys for the defense brought into question the Widow's eyesight and the matter of the Widow's discovery. How does one hear commotion in an underground stone vault from above in a study? There is also the matter of the Widow's prior dealings with the defendants. Does the Widow hold a grudge?
Both the Widow and the defense mentioned a troubling fact: the Guard seemed surprisingly absent the night of the crime. Where was the Guard the night of the burglary? The Widow claimed to have made report of the attempted crime to Colonel Brackus, who is known to regularly keep guard logs. What might this guard log say? Guardsmen questioned knew not of any entries within the guard log relating to the crime. Could information contained within the log corroborate or refute the Widow's testimony?
And what of Pepta, the Royal Food Tester, poisoned the night of the crime? Who would poison her, and to what purpose? How did she recover so quickly?
Multiple testimonies in this court case have mentioned seeing another hooded figure in the secret meetings preceding the crimes. Is there more to this crime than meets the eye? How credible is the Widow? Where was the Guard that night? What does Pepta know and why would someone want her out of the way? Will the jury find the defendants guilty or will the Widow's testimony create more questions than it answered?
The jury watched on with fixed expression.
Court is scheduled to resume tomorrow, April 17th, at 3:00PM PST in the Court of Truth. Court agenda reflects the Prosecution's cross-examination of the mysterious Widow. The Court asks trial visitors to observe decorum when court is in session.