Day 292 - 01 Nov 96 - Page 06


     
     1        about that, as an independent judge trying to hold the ring
     2        in this courtroom.
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:   The reality is, whatever has passed, we have been
     5        working continuously non-stop for over three and a half,
     6        four years and we are completely exhausted, and we are
     7        working each night on these speeches and each day in court,
     8        whatever, and we are making submissions about the evidence
     9        in this case.
    10
    11        It is helpful to us to have the time to do that after five
    12        years of the case and two and a half years on trial.  For
    13        the sake of an extra few days, it is important for us to
    14        have the time.  I mean, even if we had a gap between each
    15        issue, it would be helpful, because, you know, it is just
    16        physically impossible.
    17
    18        So what is happening is we are making submissions which,
    19        I hope, are effective, but we have not had time to read all
    20        the material or look back over the material to be sure that
    21        we are including all the relevant, you know, favourable
    22        points.
    23
    24        For example, Dr. Gonzales; we did not read his transcripts
    25        regarding animals.  I have not read any of the material on
    26        animals, in fact, because I was trusting Helen to do that
    27        job, and she is trusting me to do this job.  So, in effect,
    28        we are saving the court time and unnecessary repetition
    29        because we are doing it the way we are.  Even though we are
    30        not technically co-defendants, we are, you know.  So
    31        I think that we would appreciate some fluidity and -----
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I will bear in mind what you have said, and
    34        I also bear in mind what, in fact, I said, and I have
    35        reason to believe the Court of Appeal said about a
    36        continuing discretion in the matter.  I think what we ought
    37        to do is get on now.  I do not mind you saying it, but the
    38        points you are making are points you have made to me before
    39        and they are points I have taken on board.
    40
    41        Is there anything you want to say, Ms. Steel?
    42
    43   MS. STEEL:   I did want to say something briefly, and I am not
    44        having a go at anybody, but during the summer, obviously,
    45        having spent so long in court, we did need a break and you
    46        said it was fair enough to take a month.  On top of that,
    47        in the summer we also had to put all our documents in
    48        order, because we do not have anybody doing the filing for
    49        us and we are not used to filing large amounts of documents
    50        for court and things like that.  Basically, both of us had
    51        completely chaotic piles of papers everywhere which we had
    52        to sort out.  We also had to do the documents list, which
    53        documents were accepted and which ones did evidence need to
    54        be called on, and so on.  That took quite a bit of time.
    55
    56        I mean, summing up this case would be a massive task for
    57        anyone.  We can see that from the fact that the Plaintiffs,
    58        with their experienced legal team who have been on the case
    59        throughout and are familiar with the issues, are still
    60        working on their closing speeches now.  They are not ready,

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