Chapter 23 Chapter 3 Looking Back

Judge Ribeiro's death was a huge blow to Joam.Dacosta was the fatal blow, and he was sure that he could absolutely trust him. Before becoming a judge in Manao, that is, the chief justice of the province, Ribeiro already knew Joam.Da Costa was gone when the young clerk was being prosecuted for a diamond heist.Ribeiro was Villa.Ricardo's lawyer.He is responsible for defending defendants in criminal trials.He took the case very seriously, as if it were his own business.After studying the file and the details of the case, he was convinced (not only with professional confidence) that his defendant was wronged, that he had no part in the murder of the convoy soldiers and the diamond robbery, and that the trial went astray.All in all, Joam.Da Costa is innocent.

However, the opinion of lawyer Ribeiro, despite his brilliance and enthusiasm, was not shared by the jury.Who else could be the murderer?Except Joam.D'Acosta, who else can reveal to the robbers the secret time of departure of the convoy?The staff accompanying the convoy had perished with most of the soldiers, and it was impossible to suspect him.Everything tends to determine Joam.Dacosta is the only real culprit. Ribeiro defended him with the utmost fervor!He threw his heart and soul into this matter!He couldn't save him.The jury's verdict affirmed all the questions.Joam.Da Costa was determined to be a murderer, and the sentence was aggravated because of premeditation. He didn't even get a commutation, and was finally sentenced to death.

There is no hope for the accused.There is no possibility of any reduced sentence because this is a diamond heist.The criminal was finished. But, on the night before the execution, after the gallows had been erected, JoamDacosta successfully escaped from Vera.Readers already know the story behind Rika Prison. Twenty years later, lawyer Ribeiro was appointed judge in Manao.After learning of this personnel change, the anonymous owner of the Iquitos Manor saw a glimmer of hope that maybe the case could be reopened and it would be successful.He knew that the old lawyer's view of the case hadn't changed since becoming a judge.So he decided to put all his eggs in one basket in order to clear his grievances.If lawyer Ribeiro had not been named chief judge of Amazonas, he would have hesitated because he had found no new physical evidence to clear his grievances.Although he had endured a painful seclusion in Iquitos, perhaps he could turn to time to erase the terrible memories, but new opportunities demanded immediate action.

Because, long before Yaquita told him, he had discovered that Manoel was in love with his daughter.In his opinion, the young military doctor and Mina are a good match in every way.It was obvious that Manoel would propose sooner or later, and Joam wished to make preparations early. But at the thought that his daughter was going to marry under a false name, and that Manoel thought he had entered the Gallards' house, but in reality he had entered the D'Acosta's, the prison of a fugitive who was forever under threat of death. Home, all these thoughts were too much for him to bear.No, this wedding cannot be held like his wedding!no!Never!

The reader must remember that time.When the young clerk entered the Iquitos Manor, he was already a partner of Magalaes. One day four years later, the old Portuguese was mortally wounded and carried back to the manor, only to live for a few days .Before he died, he was terrified at the thought that his daughter would be alone and helpless, and knowing that Joam and Yaquita loved each other, he wished for their wedding at once. At first, Joam refused.He offered to be Jaquita's protector and servant, but not her husband but the dying Magalaes begged too hard to refuse.When Yaquita put his hand in Joam's, he did not withdraw his hand.

Yes!This is serious business!Yes!Joam.D'Acosta could have told everything or fled forever from the house that had entertained him, the home he had made prosperous!Yes!Would rather tell everything than marry the benefactor's daughter with a false surname. But things are imminent, the old manor owner is in danger, and he stretches out his hand to the young couple!Joam.D'Acosta was silent, and the wedding took place, after which the young manor would devote his whole life to the happiness of the woman who became his wife. One day I will tell her everything, thought Joam, and Yaquita will forgive me!She never doubted me!Though I had to deceive her, I could no longer deceive a righteous man who was going to marry my daughter and become a member of my family!No!I would rather turn myself in than end this life!

Doubtless there were many times when Joam wanted to tell his wife about the past!Yes!Especially when she begged him to take her and her daughter to Brazil to visit the beautiful Amazon River, his words were on his lips!He knew Yaquita well enough to be sure that her affection for him would not diminish in the slightest!However, he really has no courage! Considering that the happy family he had created might be ruined and never recovered, it is not difficult to understand his lack of courage. Such was his life all these years, such was the source of the little-known torments that tormented him again and again, and so he had lived, in short, while this man, who had always been upright, was obliged to go into hiding by an unjust sentence.

When he was convinced of Manoel's feelings for Mina, when he realized that the marriage must be completed within a year, he no longer hesitated, but immediately began to act. He wrote a letter to Judge Ribeiro, telling him that Joam.Da Costa is still alive, the false surname he used, the address of his family, and at the same time, he also made it clear that he would return to his motherland, surrender himself, and request a retrial of his case, and the court may clear his injustice , may maintain Vera.Rika's unjust original sentence. What waves did this letter stir in the heart of the righteous judge?It's easy to guess.The defendant no longer turned to a lawyer, but to the chief justice of the province.Joam.D'Acosta trusted him completely and didn't even ask him to keep it a secret.

At first Judge Ribeiro was distraught by the letter, but immediately regained his composure and weighed carefully the duties his position required of him.It is his unshirkable responsibility to prosecute criminals, and now a criminal who voluntarily surrendered has come.He had indeed defended him, convinced that his sentence was unjust; he had been ecstatic when he heard that Joam had escaped, and would have even helped him escape if need be!However, can you still do what you did when you were a lawyer before when you become a judge? sure!Conscience, thought the Judge, dictates that I cannot abandon this righteous man!What he did today proves his innocence again. This is a moral proof. Since he can't provide other evidence, but perhaps this is the most convincing!No!I can't abandon him!

From this day on, the judge began to talk to Joam.Da Costa's secret correspondence.First, Judge Ribeiro exhorted his protege to proceed with caution lest something bad happen.He wanted to reopen the case, review the file, review the testimony.He had to know if something new had arisen in the serious diamond heist.Haven't any of the smugglers who attacked the convoy been arrested since that murder?Has no one confessed or alluded to something?Joam.Da Costa is still the same as before, he can only verbally declare his innocence!But this is not enough. Judge Ribeiro wants to find the real culprit from some factors in the case itself.

Joam.Da Costa has to be careful.He promised to do it.After all the ordeal, it was a great relief to see his former lawyer, after becoming Chief Justice, still fully believe in his innocence.Yes!Although Joam.Da Costa was condemned, but he was a victim, a martyr, a gentleman, and society should give him great compensation!The life of the owner of the Iquitos manor after the conviction, the current situation of his family, and his tireless and selfless work spirit for the happiness of his relatives deeply moved the judge, making him more convinced of Joam's innocence, and he vowed to do his best Come to vindicate the scapegoat for the Tijuca robbery. For half a year, the two have been communicating. Finally one day, due to the urgent situation, Joam.D'Acosta wrote to Judge Ribeiro: In two months, I will be at your side, at the disposal of the Chief Justice of the Province! bring it on!Ribeiro wrote back. The big raft was ready to go down the river.Joam.Dacosta, his wife, children and servants left the shore and boarded the boat.During the journey, to the surprise of his wife and children, he rarely disembarked.He locked himself in the room and kept writing, not to settle accounts, he didn't mention what he wrote, he just called it "My Life", these memoirs will help the retrial of the case. As a result of Torres' denunciation he was arrested again, and this arrest advanced his plans and perhaps ruined them, but eight days ago he entrusted an Amazonian Indian with a letter to Ribeiro Judge, inform him of the date of arrival of the great raft. The letter was in the hands of the judge, who waited only for Joam.Upon his arrival, D'Acosta began reopening the serious case, with all his heart for a good outcome. On the night before the raft arrived in Manao, Judge Ribeiro suffered a sudden stroke.Attempted extortion, Torres, who was angrily rejected by the noble Joam, made a denunciation, Joam.D'Acosta is arrested in front of his family, Torres' plot succeeds, and his former lawyer is dead, unable to defend him anymore! Yes!For Joam, this was indeed a fatal blow!But this is the end of the matter, and there is no way out.Joam.Da Costa recovers from the unexpected blow.This involves not only his personal reputation, but also the reputation of the whole family.