Day 146 - 03 Jul 95 - Page 11
1 that I can go straight on now to Mr. Bone and Ms. Hovi. My
2 application is a very simple one. It is for your
3 Lordship's leave to call Mr. Bone to rebut that part of the
4 evidence of Ms. Hovi which, looking back at it, is, I would
5 say, well over three quarters of her evidence which was not
6 notified to us in her written statement, except in some
7 cases in the broadest possible way.
8
9 By that I mean that if one looked at the statements she had
10 made in her written statement one could guess, perhaps, at
11 some of the things she might be about to say in the witness
12 box, but one could have no idea of the kind of detail to
13 which she condescended when she got into the witness box.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: Can I just say, is "condescended" a pejorative
16 term? If so, it should be withdrawn.
17
18 MR. RAMPTON: No, it is not. My Lord, I start with this, that
19 I am caught because your Lordship has not the right weeks'
20 transcripts here. Would your Lordship wish to rise early
21 and sit early?
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I think the best thing to do is I will
24 rise now and we will sit again at five to two, but if you
25 could give me the dates which I must have - I have them
26 written down in a folder upstairs.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: Your Lordship should have days 111 and 112 which
29 are 30th March and 31st March of this year. They are to be
30 found in a file called "week 30".
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. I have mine all in my -- just as many
33 as can be crammed in any one folder.
34
35 MR. RAMPTON: There are only two days, my Lord, and most of the
36 relevant material is, in fact, on the first of those days,
37 though not all of them. I say in advance I am not going to
38 take your Lordship all the way through the transcripts to
39 illustrate what I am saying. I am sure your Lordship will
40 have a clear enough recollection of her evidence and of
41 your Lordship's own reaction at the time ---
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
44
45 MR. RAMPTON: -- to be satisfied when looking at Mr. Bone's
46 statement that virtually everything in Mr. Bone's statement
47 deals with what I call "new evidence".
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There are two aspects whether her evidence
50 included matters of which you got no or no clear warning in
51 her statement, so that you should be able to call someone
52 in rebuttal of that. I have a discretion in any event to
53 admit further evidence which I would like to hear for my
54 own satisfaction or where I considered the interests of
55 justice require it, do I not?
56
57 MR. RAMPTON: Indeed your Lordship has a discretion, I believe,
58 to allow any witness to be called at any stage of the case
59 in any order in the interests of justice.
60
