Chapter 03

In Court

In the week of the news of the case going to the Local Court Llewellyn prepares for trips outsides by speaking with his neighbours and arranging for Mrs Weeks to buy a two child stroller with the occupants facing each other so the girls can look at each other and play together with the toys in between them. Thus they’ll look like members of the same family. The morning of the hearing Llewellyn is up early to dye his hair a very light brown colour instead of its normal black colour. He also swaps his anti-photograph glasses for a pair or normal looking glasses that go very dark in bright light. With the normal looking glasses and his hair now down to below his shoulders he looks very different. With his hair set to have some of it down across the sides of his face and wearing the normal looking glasses he looks nothing like the drawings they have.

Due to the circumstances and the media attention on the custody case of Llewellyn and Gwen Owen a lot of locals who know the family turn up at the Court to witness the hearing. There’s also a large number of the news media people on hand for the case. The result is the security unit checking people on their entry to the Court is almost overwhelmed by the large crowd. Thus they process the people as fast as they reasonably can. The main hold up is the speed of the scanner checking the bags.

The Family Services and Police have people at the security checkpoint looking everyone over to see if they can spot Llewellyn arriving with Gwen because they expect him to attend the Court now he has the Family Court Order in his favour. Family Services hope to take the two children into their custody before they can get into the Courtroom.

When they approach the Courthouse as part of the group of women and children from his floor of the apartments Llewellyn is in a set of white tracksuit pants with a pink stripe down the side and a white top with pink trim while pushing the double stroller with Gwen and Alice.

The security staff hardly glance at the group of women and children while processing them through the security checkpoint. The people near the security station looking for Llewellyn dismiss the groups as well, due to the group looking like a couple of families entering together and none of them are a boy with a toddler.

Once through the security checkpoint the group from the apartments checks the Court list on the wall then waits near the Courtroom. When the clerk unlocks the door they enter the Courtroom, along with a large group of other people. Because they have a couple of strollers they sit down in the front row of seats so they don’t block the aisle with the strollers. Mrs Weeks and Llewellyn sit down with the stroller side on in front of them so they can both interact with the girls.

About twenty minutes later Magistrate Murphy enters the Courtroom and all rise until she’s seated. She looks about the crowded Courtroom then she says, “Mister Dunn, the custody matter of Llewellyn and Gwen Owen is the first case I wish to deal with today. I notice we have a large crowd of spectators in the Court today. Normally, for matters involving children we exclude all but those directly involved with the case. I also have a note from you wishing to have the case held in an open Court. I wish to know why that is.”

Will Dunn stands to respond with, “The two main reasons for an open hearing are because my client said that’s what he wanted, and because we want this whole matter to be visible to the public in its entirety.”

“Well, Mister Dunn, since your client wants this to be in an open Court I’m prepared to deal with it as such as soon as your client stands at the microphone and makes the request,” is the Magistrate’s reply.

While they talk Llewellyn and Mrs Weeks take Gwen and Alice out of the stroller and sit them on their laps so they can watch the Magistrate.

When Magistrate Murphy looks up at the crowded Courtroom after her reply to Will Dunn she half smiles when she sees a girl holding a toddler in the front row of the spectators stand up and walk over to be at the microphone at the side of the table for defendants to speak into.

Llewellyn grins as he says, “I want an open hearing so the media and the locals can see what really happens, and thus stop the Family Services people from distorting what goes on in this Court, Your Honour.”

Magistrate Murphy replies, “I gather you’re Llewellyn Owen and that is your sister, Gwen, you’re holding. Have you any way to prove that?”

“I’m sorry, Your Honour, the only proof I have is our birth certificates. However, there are several people here in Court today who know me and I can give direct testimony of events at the farmhouse during the attack which are not known to the public yet, but are known to the police due to the video I had Mister Dunn send to them.”

The Magistrate turns to Will Dunn, but he beats her by standing and saying, “When this case first came before the Court I did mention having video evidence of Llewellyn and Gwen being at the farm during the fight, but I didn’t go into details of it. I gave a copy to the police. Neither the police nor I have made the full video available to the public. It has been uploaded to a website by my client, but the address of that website hasn’t been publicly disseminated either. I also recognise Llewellyn is standing at the microphone, now I know to look for him under the extra long hair. I also recognise his voice, Your Honour.”

“I’ll take your recognition of your client as being official, Mister Dunn, and accept his request for an open hearing,” is the Magistrate’s reply. “As the case is now starting with all the parties present I void all previous orders issued by this Court on this matter. The Federal Family Court has ruled Llewellyn and Gwen Owen are to live together, can the Family Services provide suitable arrangements to accommodate that?”

The Family Service representative stands and says, “I’m sorry, Your Honour, but we have no families on our lists who can handle the two children of such a wide age gap together. We’ll have to split them up.”

The Magistrate looks at the wide grin on the Family Services Case Officer involved before Murphy says, “Mister Dunn, you’ve just heard the Family Services are unable to care for the children unless they split them up. I also have before me a document where the Family Services state you would not be a good guardian for the children due to the demands of your work. Do you have any alternatives to offer?”

Will stands to say, “May I have a moment to confer with my client, Your Honour?” Magistrate Murphy nods while she says he may.

Llewellyn takes a few steps to the side to talk with Will behind the table the solicitors sit at, then he softly says, “I’ve a cousin in the US who is willing to take us in, if we’ve no other option.”

Shaking his head no Will says, “If you go there the Court Orders from here don’t apply and it all starts again. Anyone else you can think of?”

Llewellyn is about to reply in the negative when Gwen says, “Stay with Alice family.”

Both Llewellyn and Will look at her, turn to look at Alice’s mother and grandmother while Will mouths ’Will you be their guardians?’ The two women glance at each other, have a quick word, and nod yes together.

Magistrate Murphy is watching them closely, so she sees them turn to the spectators and two women nod yes to them, so she’s not surprised when Will walks back to the table to say, “Your Honour, while I disagree with the Family Service’s report on my capabilities as a guardian I’ll deal with that by withdrawing my application to be their guardian and thus have that whole issue removed from the case, along with their stupid report, while I make a verbal application for Missus Heidi Irvine and Missus Helga Weeks to be the guardians of Llewellyn and Gwen Owen.”

The Magistrate looks over at the two women as she asks, “Are you ladies prepared to take on such a role? Also, how well do you know the children involved? Have you the housing and how will taking on this responsibility affect your life?”

Mrs Weeks and Mrs Irvine have a quick word before Mrs Weeks goes to the microphone to reply with, “Your Honour, we’re ready to take on the role of caring for Llewellyn and Gwen, although we both doubt it will require much work by us. Our current apartment has three bedrooms so mother and I can live in one, the girls in another, while Llewellyn is in the third one until we make more suitable arrangements. We doubt the task of caring for Llewellyn and Gwen will affect our lives too much, as it hasn’t in the past.” She pauses for a moment. Magistrate Murphy frowns and is about to speak when Mrs Weeks continues with, “Alice and Gwen were born in the same hospital only a few minutes apart. Mary, Gwen, Alice, and I shared the same hospital room for several days to recover from the births. Alice was born a little early because I was depressed at that time as my husband died when his car ran off the road several weeks earlier. On the first day we had trouble getting the girls to feed. On his first visit to the hospital Llewellyn was able to get both girls to feed from the bottle. For the rest of our time in the hospital Llewellyn had to be at the hospital for all of their feeds. Since then Mary and I often babysat for each other. However, the reality was most often a case of us going somewhere while mother kept an eye on Llewellyn looking after the girls. Thus, for most of their lives the girls have been together and they’ve had Llewellyn looking after them. I expect that will continue a lot of the time, if they live with us. I do know when Llewellyn looks after the girls he teaches them while using a range of educational videos and face to face teaching. We all know what to expect with us all living together, so it won’t mean any real changes once we arrange for larger housing.”

Magistrate Murphy replies with, “I see! So you see this as just a long continuation of what you’ve done in the past with only a few more of the responsibilities of being a parent added on?”

“Yes, Your Honour.”

The Magistrate writes on the papers in front of her before saying, “I grant custody of the orphaned children Llewellyn and Gwen Owen to Missus Helga Weeks and Missus Heidi Irvine until Llewellyn is eighteen years of age and able to take on the legal care of his sister Gwen. The reasons affecting the decision are the existing close ties between the two families and the stated inability of the Department to provide joint housing for the children in line with the Family Court Order.”

Will talks with Llewellyn and his new family while they wait for the Courthouse staff to prepare the official documents for them to show to the relevant authorities when they need to prove the legal guardianship.

As the group leaves the Courthouse Will turns in one direction while the rest go the other way. Mrs Weeks is pushing the stroller with the girls while talking to Mrs Irvine beside her and Llewellyn is walking beside the stroller on the street side as he talks to the girls.

Several metres up the street they near a large black SUV with two men standing near the front of the vehicle. The men turn to the group and one holds up his hand in a ’stop’ motion while he says, “Police. Llewellyn Owen you’re under arrest for the use of an illegal firearm.”

Llewellyn demands, “Show me your warrant card!”

While they both move their right hands across their bodies the other man waves a folded piece of paper while saying, “Here’s our warrant!”

Llewellyn darts forward two paces then he spins on one foot while he lashes out with his left foot to kick the man on his left hard in his right knee. The steel toe cap inside the industrial safety boots that look like running shoes smashes the man’s knee. The man screams and falls to the ground. The kick has Llewellyn turning to face the other man due to his spin. Llewellyn jumps as hard as he can off his right leg as his left hand comes around as fast as he can swing it. The palm of his opened hand smashes into the second man’s temple and the man drops to the ground without making a sound. The first man is sitting on the ground while he draws a gun out from under his coat so Llewellyn spins back to kick him in the jaw with his right foot. The man’s head slams backward into the footpath. Both of the women stare at Llewellyn with shocked looks.

Two uniformed police officers exiting the Courthouse see the men on the ground and come racing over. Llewellyn looks up at the sound and he says to them, “Show me your warrant cards!” Both of the officers stop, reach into their pockets, and get out their police identity folders to show them to him. Llewellyn smiles as he says, “I’ve two armed kidnappers who impersonated police officers. I’ve neutralised them.”

The police officers check the men then they call for support to deal with the two dead men. It takes ninety minutes for all of the statements and questioning to be done while the site is cleaned up. The two men are identified by the US drivers’ licences they have in their wallets.

At one point a detective asks, “Llewellyn, how did you know the men weren’t real police officers?”

Llewellyn smiles as he says, “When I asked to see their warrant cards one of them waved a folded sheet of paper at me. Dad told me the NSW Police ID is called a warrant card and the police have to produce it if you ask to see it. So when they thought I was asking for an arrest order instead of their ID I knew they weren’t real local cops.”

Mrs Irvine and the cops there all slowly shake their heads as the cop who asked the question says, “I don’t know of anyone else your age who would know that, let alone act on it.”

When they’re allowed to go home Llewellyn, Mrs Irvine, and Mrs Weeks discuss the attempted kidnapping and what it means for their personal security. During the discussion they work out a set of security processes which basically means the girls do not leave the apartment unless Llewellyn and one of the ladies is with them. They all agree only Gwen and Llewellyn are in any real danger while Alice may be at risk for being mistaken for Gwen, and they agree Llewellyn can look after himself quite well. For the next few years that’s how they see to Gwen’s safety. They all realise the issue will need to be looked at again when Gwen and Alice start going to school.

The Family Services people are not happy with the Court decision. In the following weeks they lodge a series of appeals which all fail due to their continued claim of not being able to keep the siblings together as required by the Family Court Order.

A New Life

Housing

In the weeks following the Court hearing Llewellyn arranges for the manager of the trust that owns the apartment to buy the apartment Mrs Irvine owns and the section of hallway between the two. Then it pays for a local company to build a very strong, well anchored, high security entrance across the hallway to merge their two apartments into one six bedroom apartment with an entrance that looks like the others. They also rewire the power and lighting in that part of the hallway and the Irvine apartment to be like that in the Eagle apartment and hooked into the same system. Additional solar panels are erected to help charge the larger system, along with additional batteries. The window security is also duplicated so both apartments are secured, as is the garage belonging to the Irvine apartment. Then the paperwork is processed to make the two apartments and hallway legally one large apartment owned by the trust.

After all of the work is done they settle into an easy life with the girls nominally having a bedroom of their own in the original Eagle apartment with Llewellyn in the master bedroom of that unit while Mrs Irvine has the master bedroom in the other apartment and Mrs Weeks has her own bedroom in there as well. The third room is set up as a guest room. Over time they tend to live in what was the Eagle apartment and the two ladies go to the other apartment for bed or time by themselves. This is due to the one for the children having the better options for the entertainment and education of the children, so the women often join them. Being there they also tend to cook in that apartment’s kitchen.

A few weeks after the work is finished the Regional Health Service Social Worker visits them to prepare a report for the Court on the housing and how they’re doing. The report is favourable to the families.

Now they no longer have to worry about being arrested by the real police Llewellyn and Gwen can get out of the apartment a lot more. Thus the five of them, and sometimes four of them, spend time shopping and time outside playing in the various city parks. They all enjoy the outings because they make sure they go to the parks on every day of good weather they can do so.

School

Llewellyn missed the first few months of his last year in primary school so they make arrangements for him to spend the rest of the first semester being tutored to catch up with where he should be in the classes. Often the evening and weekend tutors are the actual teachers he’ll have in school, but not all of them. He also does a lot of self study. This allows him to spend more time with the girls while they all get used to the new living arrangements.

After the mid-year school holidays Llewellyn goes to the local primary school about ten minutes walk from the apartment. He fits in well and school goes well, in general, for the rest of the year.

In the June following the attack the book by Evan Owen is published and released worldwide. Once the material is out there’s no longer any point in trying to find out if Llewellyn knows what they’re trying hard to keep quiet, thus the attempts to kidnap him and Gwen end.

Author’s Note: More details on the book and the reactions later.

Music

The shopping includes a lot of new clothes for all of the children as they’re needed due to them growing. However, there is one shopping stop with Mrs Irvine that gets very interesting. When they’re passing the best musical instrument shop in the region Llewellyn suggest they go into the shop, so when Mrs Irvine agrees they enter the store.

Llewellyn approaches the store owner and asks him, “What’s the best acoustic guitar to buy?”

The man looks down at the boy and he smiles as he replies, “Is this for you?” Llewellyn nods yes. “Do you already play?” Llewellyn shakes his head. “Well, you look just big enough to be able to use a full guitar. I suggest you first buy a cheaper ’learner’ guitar to see if you like it and can get used to it, then you can look at the better models once you know you want to continue for sure. If you can afford it I know a man who’ll make you a very good custom guitar better than what you can buy for a little less than the top factory models, but not much less.”

“Why should I try a cheap guitar first?”

“While learning you’ll find your fingers will get sore. If it gets to be too much for you then what you have invested in it is a lot less if you stop playing. Once you can play reasonably well and know more about what sort of music you want to play you can then make a better decision on what type and style of guitar to buy. Let’s try you out with our highest selling learner guitar.”

The man walks to the side of the store, takes down a guitar hanging there, hands it to Llewellyn, and waves him to a tall stool nearby. Then he goes to the back of the store and returns with a well used guitar to sit on another stool facing Llewellyn. He demonstrates how to hold his fingers and play a few chords. Then he has Llewellyn copy him. When Llewellyn does he’s a bit surprised to find he can almost make music without much trouble. Then they all laugh when Gwen says, “Me try.”

The owner looks at her as he says, “This one is too big for you to play, but I may have one you can use.” He stands, puts his guitar down, gets a piano stool to put beside Llewellyn before he gets a ukulele from another part of the wall which he hands to Gwen after Mrs Irvine seats her on the stool. The owner shows Gwen how to hold the ukulele in the same way Llewellyn holds the guitar then has her strum the instrument. She has a big smile when the instrument makes a musical sound.

Llewellyn asks, “Is it any harder to learn to play a steel string guitar than it is to play a nylon string guitar?”

The man shakes his head as he says, “Not after your fingers are used to the action and have developed the calluses to work the strings. It will feel a bit harder on the fingers to learn on, but no real trouble.”

Gwen interrupts with, “Strings gone.”

The owner explains the ukuleles are four string instruments while the guitar is usually a six string instrument, so the ukulele isn’t damaged.

Llewellyn asks, “Is it possible to make a six string ukulele?”

The owner starts to speak, then he stops, he thinks, and he says, “I’ll phone and ask a fellow I know about that.” He leaves for a few minutes. When he returns he says, “Mister Williams is on his way in to speak to you. He says he can do it, but it would be a special build and not cheap. He does suggest it may be better to build a special three-quarter size guitar for the girl to play. He’ll decide after he gets here and he has time to take a few measurements before he discusses it with you.”

They go on to discuss music and instruments for several minutes. The talk stops when Mr Williams arrives and everyone is introduced.

Llewellyn says, “Mister Williams, I’m told I’m a good singer, so I’d like to learn to play a guitar to accompany myself when singing. I’ve been told by a musical friend I know that I should get a steel string guitar. However, I don’t want a full electric guitar because I want an acoustic guitar I can play without having to lug an amplifier around with me. I suppose it would be best for it to have good pick-ups in it and a plug for use when recording or at a large hall.”

“What sort of music do you sing?”

Mrs Irvine says, “He’s always been a good baritone. However, since his recent voice change settled down he can now sing most of the tenor range and a little bass as well. Lew can also sing any style or type of music you can name.” She then has Llewellyn sing a verse of several songs from different genres and tempos to demonstrate his range.

Llewellyn says, “Gwen wants to play as well, so you may as well make Alice one too, as she usually wants to do what Gwen and I do.”

Mr Williams smiles at them before he spends several minutes having each of the children hold a guitar in various ways while he measures the distances between their hands and various body parts as they hold the guitar. When he’s finished the measuring he points at the guitars hanging on the walls while he asks, “Do you care if the guitar is a bit different to the usual style of guitars you see?”

Llewellyn shakes his head while he says, “All I care about is it does the job and it suits my singing voice.” He pauses, then adds, “I’d like the finished product to be a deep green with dark red highlights and our names on them in gold, please.” Mr Williams simply nods while he notes that all down before he leaves.

When they buy some books and videos to learn with the owner loans them some broken small, solid body, electric guitars to practice on. The loaners won’t make any sound unless they’re attached to an amplifier, but it will give them an opportunity to practice the fingering and fret work while watching the videos.

That night they sit down and discuss what songs Llewellyn should sing when he starts recording. The talk is long, and in the end they have a list of two hundred songs they say he sings well with twenty in each of ten genres so they can record ten CDs. They know they won’t get twenty songs on each CD, but they want a few extras in case there’s a problem getting approval for the use of a song or two on each CD. They don’t expect an issue with most of the list because they know the majority of the songs are in the public domain, but some they’d really like to record are still copyrighted and they’ll have to pay fees to be allowed to record them for sale. That task is passed along to Mr Dunn to check into and arrange the fees, if they aren’t too high a charge for the use of the song.