Day 161 - 24 Jul 95 - Page 20


     
     1        A.  Yes, sir, I would be worried.
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   What I think Miss Anteneh should do is write
     4        down on a piece of paper the identity of the store, so that
     5        you can see it, Mr. Morris can see it, and Mr. Rampton.  Do
     6        you know it already, Mr. Rampton?
     7
     8   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, I do, my Lord.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I can see it as well.  Just listen to me,
    11        because I have not finished yet.  If, in the course of the
    12        evidence -- I think you should then go along with your
    13        cross-examination absolutely as far as you can, and if, at
    14        the end of the day, you still want to argue that it is
    15        necessary for it to come out in open court as opposed to
    16        being written down, so that you know of it, then I will
    17        reconsider the matter.
    18
    19        I should say that this is a situation which arises in one
    20        guise or another very frequently, and this is very often
    21        the course which is taken in the first instance and, in
    22        fact, adhered to throughout.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:  I was going to say, we will agree to this course,
    25        although we do, in principle, object on the grounds that it
    26        is really nothing to do with us, this incident; and also on
    27        the grounds that it is not a personal address, so it is not
    28        the same as a home address or something like that; it is a
    29        business premises.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  In my view at the moment, there is no
    32        difference in principle between a working address and a
    33        home address in the situation which I have read -- and, for
    34        the moment, I am accepting to be accurate, unless you
    35        challenge it, in paragraph 2.  So what I suggest is that it
    36        be written.  Is that a completely clean sheet of paper?
    37
    38        (To the witness)  Just write down the address of the
    39        restaurant inside the fold, please, Miss Anteneh. (Pause)
    40        Then just sign it and date it, please.
    41
    42   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I have just been given some information
    43        which I did not know before.  In the light of the
    44        information I have been given, I would ask that the
    45        Defendants keep the identity of the store (unless
    46        your Lordship should rule that it needs to be mentioned in
    47        open court) to themselves, that it should be confidential,
    48        because it is in an area which has particular groups of
    49        people within it -- I will not say any more than that --
    50        which I can well understand would make Miss Anteneh 
    51        extremely nervous if the name should be broadcast. 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I think you should do is keep it to
    54        yourselves, save for the purpose of any enquiry you need to
    55        pursue for the conduct of the suit; and, even then, there
    56        probably should be no reason to give any kind of
    57        explanation.  You should be as guarded as is sensible and
    58        not give any reason for being guarded, because, in
    59        situations like this, this sometimes creates its own
    60        problems.  I do not want to make too much of it.

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