The Prisoner's Dilemma

Day leaned forward, peered at Anthrax and asked, 'What did you interpret that to mean?'

'That if I don't tell the truth, if I say "no comment" and don't cooperate, that it is going to be . . . it will mean that you will go after me with . . .' Anthrax grasped for the right words, but he felt tongue-tied, 'with . . . more force, I guess.'

Both officers stiffened visibly.

Day came back again. 'Do you feel that an unfair induce- ment has been placed on you as a result of that?'

'In what sense?' The question was genuine.

'You have made the comment and it has now been recorded and I have to clear it up. Do you feel like, that a deal has been offered to you at any stage?'

A deal? Anthrax thought about it. It wasn't a deal as in 'Talk to us now and we will make sure you don't go to jail'. Or 'Talk now and we won't beat you with a rubber hose.'

'No,' he answered.

'Do you feel that as a result of that being said that you have been pressured to come forward today and tell the truth?'

Ah, that sort of deal. Well, of course.

'Yes, I have been pressured,' Anthrax answered. The two police officers looked stunned. Anthrax paused, concerned about the growing feeling of disapproval in the room. 'Indi- rectly,' he added quickly, almost apologetically.

For a brief moment, Anthrax just didn't care. About the police. About his father. About the pressure. He would tell the truth. He decided to explain the situation as he saw it.

'Because since they came to my house, they emphasised the fact that if I didn't come for an interview, that they would then charge my mother and, as my mother is very sick, I am not prepared to put her through that.'

The police looked at each other. The shock waves reverber- ated around the room. The AFP clearly hadn't bargained on this coming out in the interview tape. But what he said about his mother being threatened was the truth, so let it be on the record with everything else.