‘The attack. I saw her being attacked. I was in the room.’ I look up then at the faces of the two officers in front of me. They look at one another. Disbelief? No, not that, something else. Confusion.

‘Her? Did you say her?’ she asks, her eyebrows contracting.

I nod. ‘The woman. In the house. I saw her being strangled. By her boyfriend.’

They look at one another again. The silence grows, expanding until it fills every speck of space. He is confused and irritated with himself and with me, because of something he hasn’t understood.

‘This interview is being terminated. The time is 22:22 by my watch,’ he says and presses a button on the machine.

‘What’s going on?’ I ask. They look at one another ominously.

‘We are just going to get the custody sergeant to speak to you again. You might need an appropriate adult,’ the woman says and pushes off from her seat. I have forgotten her name already.

‘An appropriate adult? I’m not a child. Wait. I’m not mad either. I might look odd,’ I say, ‘but there is nothing wrong in here.’ I point to my right temple.

‘It won’t take a moment but it’s best if you don’t speak until he’s seen you.’ She holds the door open and motions for me to leave.

I am ushered back to my cell and left to wait. They are concerned for my mental health. Out there it happens every day. Even as people walk past, covering their mouths and noses, the eyes are there communicating pity, and disgust. But here, I have the power of speech. I have the opportunity to speak and be heard. They have to hear me. When you hear me, you don’t leave thinking I’m crazy I promise you.

I hear the door to my cell clang open.

‘Mr Shute, I’m the custody sergeant.’ I look up and see the officer from before. I stand to speak to him so I won’t be at a disadvantage sitting.

‘Just a few questions,’ he says, rubbing his white stubble self-consciously. I wait for him to run through them and answer them all. No tricks in these questions at all. ‘Are you currently or have you ever had treatment for any mental illness?’

‘No.’

‘Have you ever been sectioned under the Mental Health Act?’

‘No.’

‘Have you ever attempted suicide or are you feeling suicidal at the moment?’

‘No.’

‘Okay. I don’t think you need an assessing psychiatrist at this time.’