L. BASCOMBE: Perhaps he will tell the police who else he was working with. You know, if they offer him a deal.

ME: That would be great. Then all of my attackers will be behind bars, and I can move on even more.

L. BASCOMBE: This is a great day for therapy.

ME: I must confess I’m nervous about the trial, despite feeling so empowered. What if my rapist’s lawyer tries to attack me personally while I am testifying?

L. BASCOMBE: You must understand that the man you consider to be your rapist is innocent before the law. The state has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt before anyone can refer to him as a guilty man. The duty of the defence counsel is to try to poke holes in your testimony—to submit it to the most rigorous scrutiny possible in the service of his client.

ME: You’re right. And while still feeling brave and empowered, I am apprehensive about describing the rape itself in open court. Journalists will be present who will live-tweet this evidence to their thousands of followers on Twitter. It’s one thing giving evidence in front of a hundred people in a public court. It’s quite another having that evidence broadcast in two-hundred-and-eighty-character updates on Twitter.

L. BASCOMBE: It is the very essence of our court system that justice must be seen to be done, and that is why the majority of our trials are public. Anyone can go and listen. And this applies, obviously, to social media too. Public is public. Social media merely extends the reach of what it means to be public.

ME: Of course. That makes perfect sense.

* * *

“When you were in your first year at university, you had a relationship with a black African male, is that correct, Miss Lurie?”

“A black man. Yes, that is correct.”

“A sexual relationship?”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“You suppose so? You suppose so? Supposing is not good enough for this court, Miss Lurie. You either did or you didn’t. Which is it?”

“I did.”

“So, to clarify for the record, you had sexual intercourse—you had, in fact, full coitus—with this black African male on numerous occasions, is that correct? You admit that?”

“Yes.”

“Yet you would have us believe that when my client, the defendant, arrived at your door and was invited in, you did not in fact intend to have sex with him?”

“That’s correct. I did not.”

“Do you find black African males repulsive, Miss Lurie?”

“No, of course not.”

“So you admit you find them sexually attractive?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Miss Lurie, are you so mired in the legacy of apartheid that you are not capable of feeling sexually attracted to a black African male?”

“Not at all. As you pointed out earlier, I once had a relationship with a black man.”