Quote 37
"It was not simply theft, Petrus," he persists. "They did not come just to steal. They did not come just to do this to me." He touches the bandages, touches the eye-shield. "They came to do something else as well. You know what I mean, or if you don't know you can surely guess. After they did what they did, you cannot expect Lucy calmly to go on with her life as before. I am Lucy's father. I want those men to be caught and brought before the law and punished. Am I wrong? Am I wrong to want justice?"
He does not care how he gets the words out of Petrus now, he just wants to hear them. (14.42-43)
When David says he wants justice, he means he wants Petrus to admit that Lucy was raped and to help move the case forward by giving David and the police any information he might have on the intruders. Sorry, David, you're not getting it.
Quote 38
"I have no intention of involving you in the case, Petrus. Tell me the boy's name and whereabouts and I will pass on the information to the police. Then we can leave it to the police to investigate and bring him and his friends to justice. You will not be involved, I will not be involved, it will be a matter for the law." (16.10)
David paints a rather sterilized, emotionless vision of the law here. Nevertheless, as we learned from his experience being tried before the committee, it's never this black and white. Petrus must know this too, because he refuses to cooperate.
Quote 39
A flurry of anger runs through him, strong enough to take him by surprise. He picks up his spade and strikes whole strips of mud and weed from the dam-bottom, flinging them over his shoulder, over the wall. You are whipping yourself into a rage, he admonishes himself: Stop it! Yet at this moment he would like to take Petrus by the throat. (14.45)
David knows he shouldn't hate Petrus, but he just can't help it. Wouldn't you want to throttle someone who doesn't seem to care that your daughter was viciously assaulted?