Chapter 123 - 121: Harassment Established
Sunward Road Precinct.
Around 11:30 PM, the group finally finished giving their individual statements.
With surveillance footage and the restaurant owner’s testimony, the sequence of events was clear. The other party’s denials were useless.
However, it was also a fact that the other party was seriously injured. The bald man’s forehead was bleeding profusely, and an officer on duty had already escorted him to the emergency room for stitches. The other two men also had obvious cuts and bruises. If they insisted on pressing the issue of their injuries, this matter couldn’t be dismissed as simple harassment.
The few officers on the night shift were all rookies lacking investigative experience. They discussed the case back and forth without reaching a conclusion. As the time crept toward midnight, Estelle Goodman leaned on Cecilia Sterling’s shoulder, nearly dozing off.
"Officer, are you guys done talking or what? How are you going to punish them? All of us are badly hurt, you have to punish them severely!"
Seeing the wait drag on, one of the men grew restless and started shouting.
The dark, thin officer’s expression turned stern. He barked, "Shut your mouth and wait quietly!"
"We’ve been waiting for almost two hours! We’re in a hurry to get home. Our wives and kids are waiting for us."
"Oh, so you *do* remember you have a wife and kids? A man with a family, harassing young girls on the street? Have you no shame?"
"How was that harassment? I just said a few words! I didn’t even touch them, and I got beaten up like this! You can’t just side with them because they’re pretty!"
Just then, someone strode in from outside the station’s main entrance. The man was about six feet tall, dressed in black casual pants and a plain white short-sleeved shirt.
His calm, sharp gaze swept over the two groups of people sitting in the waiting area. "Quite a lively scene," he said coolly.
Everyone instinctively looked up. The man was handsome and distinguished. The few steps he took from the door were enough to reveal a natural, awe-inspiring righteousness about him. His eyes were as deep and piercing as a hawk’s, and the casual glance he’d just swept over the room had been enough to silence the man who had been chattering nonstop a moment before.
"Captain Thorne!"
Upon seeing him, the dark, thin officer hurried over, saying apologetically, "Sorry to drag you out here so late, Captain."
Saul Thorne’s casual glance had already given him a grasp of the situation, but frankly, he couldn’t immediately figure out the cause-and-effect relationship between three unscathed young women and two men covered in injuries.
"What happened?" Saul Thorne asked.
"Three men were harassing three young women at a barbecue restaurant. It didn’t go well for them—one of the women injured them. The bald one was hurt pretty badly; Miller took him to the ER at the hospital next door for stitches."
Hearing this, the man who had spoken earlier couldn’t help but emphasize again, "I told you, it wasn’t harassment! At most, I was just hitting on them. I didn’t even touch them, and I got beaten up like this."
Saul Thorne turned to look at him, and the man was so frightened he immediately shut his mouth. Thorne’s voice was quiet, but it carried an immense pressure. "If the woman feels she was harassed, then it’s considered harassment. Who told you it doesn’t count if you don’t touch them? Verbal harassment is still harassment!"
The man shrank back, not daring to utter a single word in rebuttal.
Cecilia Sterling and her friends also remained silent as they watched the suddenly-appeared police captain, but their minds were all racing with different thoughts.
’I just want to get this over with and leave,’ Estelle Goodman thought, her eyelids fighting to stay open. ’I don’t even care if we have to pay some money.’
Blair leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed, looking completely unconcerned. ’Cecilia said as long as I didn’t kill them, it was fine. Besides, I always know how to pull my punches. Except for that one heavy blow to the bald guy’s head, the rest wasn’t a big deal. The injuries will be classified as minor at worst, which isn’t enough for a criminal charge.’ Blair knew the system inside and out.
Only Cecilia Sterling seemed to be miles away, as if she had forgotten she was even in a police station, her eyes fixed solely on Saul Thorne’s face.
’You couldn’t just describe this man as "handsome,"’ she mused. ’The word is "distinguished."’
’In a way, "distinguished" isn’t just about looks; it’s more of a presence, an aura.’
"You said there was a bald one?"
Saul Thorne caught a key detail in the junior officer’s statement. "Named Liam Coleman?" he asked.
The junior officer was surprised. "How did you know, Captain Thorne?"
Saul Thorne scoffed. "This is his third time in the slammer. He has a record for harassing women. As a repeat offense, the punishment will be harsher. Tell Lawson to bring him back here under guard after his wound is treated!"
"Right. And them...?"
Saul Thorne looked through the statements and the restaurant owner’s testimony. After a long moment, he said, "The men’s harassment is a confirmed fact. According to the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, each of them will be fined two hundred yuan and detained for fifteen days. Liam Coleman’s punishment will be more severe; after his detention, he’ll be handed over to the procuratorate for further prosecution."
With that, he slapped the file shut and tossed it to the junior officer. "In the future, if you don’t know how to rule on a case like this, judge it by cause and effect. The party that triggers the incident is the cause and bears the primary consequences. In a harassment case, the ’cause’ is always the man."
The junior officer blinked, then hesitated before speaking again. "But they were beaten up so badly..."
Saul Thorne looked at the two men, their faces bruised and swollen, without a shred of sympathy. "Given the natural strength disparity between men and women, if a woman doesn’t use her full strength to resist and defend herself when threatened, she is almost certain to be the one who suffers."
"And when someone is using their full strength to protect themselves and their companions from harm, they don’t have the time or ability to gauge the limits of appropriate self-defense. In these situations, we use ’light injury’ as the threshold. Anything that doesn’t meet the legal definition of ’light injury’ is considered legitimate self-defense!"
Blair heard every single word Saul Thorne said, and the corner of her mouth tilted up in a barely perceptible smile.
The junior officer understood now and nodded repeatedly. "Got it, Captain Thorne."
Soon, officers on duty came and escorted the two men away. They were naturally furious, shouting about the injustice of it all and threatening to sue Cecilia Sterling and her friends for assault.
And yet, Cecilia Sterling and her friends were perfectly calm, showing none of the nervousness one might expect from university students at a police station.
Saul Thorne walked up to them, his gaze landing directly on Cecilia Sterling’s face. His profession had given him a natural acuity, and he had been aware from the moment he walked in that this young woman’s eyes had been fixed on him.
"What university are you from?" Saul Thorne asked.
Cecilia Sterling answered softly, "Lorcain University of Science and Technology."
Saul Thorne nodded. "Since you’re university students, you’re adults with the capacity to bear social and legal responsibility. We won’t be notifying your school. Next time you encounter a situation like this, remember to find a chance to call the police first. Don’t act rashly just because you know a bit of kung fu. What if they had been carrying weapons?"
"In a moment, you’ll each pay a fifty-yuan fine, sign a document, and then you can leave."
Hearing this, Cecilia Sterling instinctively asked, "Didn’t you say it was legitimate self-defense? Why do we still have to pay a fine?"
Saul Thorne looked at her and let out a short, humorless laugh. "You beat them up that badly and really think you can walk away completely scot-free? If you don’t pay the fine, they’ll keep pressing the issue, and it’ll be a huge hassle later on!"
"And if we pay, it’ll all be over?"
Saul Thorne looked at Cecilia Sterling for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "Pay it, and I’ll handle the rest."