Day 182 - 02 Nov 95 - Page 66
1 I believe to be the position, once the statement has been
2 read, Mr. Morris is out of court so far as calling a
3 witness is concerned.
4
5 If, however, he merely indicates that it is his intention
6 to read the statement, he does that sooner rather than
7 later, then the burden would fall on me to produce anything
8 that I was -- the reason I have held my hand, if I have a
9 hand, on this is that up until now I had thought that they
10 were calling their French witnesses.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are entitled to take the stand then that
13 although we had disclosure of evidence, there are certain
14 respects in which you can wait until cross-examination to
15 bring forward information.
16
17 MR. RAMPTON: Exactly, but if I am told that they are not going
18 to be called, then I would proffer whatever admissible
19 evidence under this section I thought appropriate, if any.
20 Then the Defendants would still have the option to say:
21 "Well, in the light of that, I am after all going to call
22 them".
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If Mr. Morris decides that, in principle, he
25 wants to read the statement, all he has to say is: "As
26 presently advised, I intend to read the statement rather
27 than call the witness". He then gets to look at anything
28 which you wish to produce and he may say: "Well, now as
29 presently advised, I propose to call the witness".
30
31 MR. RAMPTON: Which is precisely why I said -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: And neither side has been disadvantaged by
34 what has happened.
35
36 MR. RAMPTON: Which is precisely why I said that to retain their
37 scheduled position, which, perhaps, I do not know for the
38 reasons your Lordship was mentioning earlier they ought not
39 to, but if they are, the sooner we are told what the
40 intention is the better, because that gives everybody more
41 time to sort out what they are actually going to do.
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is not for you to give advice to the
44 Defendants. I am extremely grateful to you for bringing it
45 to my attention because I do not mind admitting I
46 had completely overlooked it. If I was representing the
47 Defendants, I might say, well, look, the way you can get
48 the best of both worlds is to take what in any event might
49 appear to be the sensible course on present information and
50 say: "We propose as presently advised to read Mr. Lamti
51 and Miss Villeneuve-Gallaiz" and then wait and see what, if
52 anything, you produce under section 7, and then reconsider
53 their decision.
54
55 MR. RAMPTON: That is why I said when I rose to my feet that
56 I do sometimes feel compelled in a case of this kind to
57 fill gaps in the Defendants' legal -----
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am very grateful to you. You understand
60 what has happened?
