Day 017 - 25 Jul 94 - Page 67


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I see.
 
     2   MS. STEEL:   -- so he could talk about it in his opening
              speech, and the file of indices, that was because we had
     3        been given a new set of indices on that morning, but we
              had only been given one between the two of us.  So
     4        I wanted a second set delivered that day so we had them
              before the trial started.
     5
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I was thinking of saying I will take that
     6        attendance note out and hand it back, if there is no
              significance to it, but I have noted on it what you have
     7        said about it.
 
     8   MS. STEEL:   Thank you.  The second thing is -- we wanted to
              raise this in open court so it is on the record -- to ask
     9        Mr. Rampton to stop interrupting us during
              cross-examination, in order to tip off the witnesses and
    10        alert them as to what we are aiming at.
 
    11        When we were asking witnesses whether they agreed with
              statements made elsewhere, for example, in the fact sheet
    12        that is complained of, they may very well give a different
              answer if they know what particular document we are
    13        referring to.
 
    14        We have taken legal advice on this.  We have been told
              there is no obligation on us to actually hold the leaflet
    15        up and say:  "This is what we are referring to" but we are
              entitled to just ask general questions about whether they
    16        would agree with the statement or whether they would think
              it was OK to make a statement.
    17
              The effect of the interruptions is two-fold.  As I say, it
    18        alert the witnesses as to what we are getting, and also it
              distracts us from our line of questioning, which we feel
    19        is a bit unfair -- well, quite unfair considering we are
              unexperienced.  We end up getting, as I say, distracted
    20        and confused.  We feel it ends up taking more court time
              than if we just carried straight on with the questions
    21        without interruptions.
 
    22        On Friday Mr. Rampton even gave an answer for the witness
              before the witness had spoken.  We feel that a senior
    23        lawyer such as Mr. Rampton ought to know better than
              this.  We are asking him to curb the interruptions and, if
    24        he will not do so, at a later stage we are going to
              formally seek the protection of the court over this.
    25
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You have my protection anyway, in that if 
    26        I saw anything I thought was wrong happening, I would 
              interrupt.  I must say that I think Mr. Rampton has 
    27        interrupted very rarely in cross-examination compared with
              my general experience in litigation.  I have to say I do
    28        not think he has done so unfairly up to now.
 
    29        My own experience is that one tries to keep interruptions
              of anyone else's cross-examination to a minimum.  One does
    30        interrupt from time to time.  Sometimes it turns out that
              the interruption was well founded, sometimes it turns out,

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