Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 62
1 of that before you go home.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: Thank you.
4
5 (Short adjournment)
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
8
9 MR. MORRIS: The first one on page 7, I believe, about Kevin, we
10 would say is relevant to explain -----
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Wait a minute. Let me find it. Yes?
13
14 MR. MORRIS: Relevant to explain the perception of the witness
15 and the whole incident and the motivation -- for example,
16 in the next sentence, which is not challenged, "I informed
17 the police of this incident" -- and also may help to
18 explain why the witness may have packed in his job at the
19 Company, I would say it is not evidence of the fact but it
20 is evidence that this is what the witness was told and that
21 is relevant in terms of his perceptions, his perceptions of
22 what the Company's attitude to unions was likely to be if
23 he carried on.
24
25 So, in fact, really it is fairly central to the whole, to
26 the understanding of the incident. But we would accept it
27 is not evidence of the fact that it happened that what
28 Kevin told him what was necessarily true. It is not
29 evidence on that.
30
31 That is that one. Are we going on to page 11?
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
34
35 MR. MORRIS: It is clear that the witness had seen the burn and,
36 therefore, had spoken to the person who had the burn in the
37 sentence before. There is absolutely no indication that
38 the details he says could only have come from the actual
39 person. They could quite easily have come from
40 management. Mr. Rampton said he is relying on what it says
41 on pages 2 and 3 in the continuation statement. All he
42 says in there is that he did not see it happen. He did not
43 say, so he obviously was asked, as far as I can see, you
44 know, "Did you actually witness the accident?", but that
45 section is not about witnessing the accident; the section
46 that Mr. Rampton is objecting to is about the aftermath of
47 the accident, which would quite easily have come from
48 management. It may have been the management who told him
49 that, or he may even have overheard the conversation
50 between the management and the girl who suffered the burn.
51
52 So I would say it is not clearly hearsay, which just
53 leaves, I think, page 1 of the continuation statement.
54 I do not feel highly strongly about this one. I do not
55 think it matters one way or the other whether it is in or
56 out. It is hearsay. It may be thought to be relevant to
57 the motivation of why somebody is trying to establish a
58 trade union branch in a store. Obviously, it shows
59 concern, this sentence here shows concern over the working
60 conditions. I mean, it is clear that Mr. McGee is
