Day 182 - 02 Nov 95 - Page 68


     
     1        being brought up as to their credit which, strictly
     2        speaking, were not remotely relevant or admissible.  I am
     3        just a bit concerned about that.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I cannot give speculative rulings on that.
     6        If you did put the Civil Evidence Act statements in and Mr.
     7        Rampton wanted to produce something, and you objected to
     8        that, then I would have to rule on the matter.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  Can I say a couple of things?  If we say, for
    11        example, now that we intend to take statements of Mr. Lamti
    12        and Miss Villeneuve-Gallaiz as read -----
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That you intend to put them in under the
    15        Civil Evidence Act?
    16
    17   MR. MORRIS:  Sorry, intend to put them in under the Civil
    18        Evidence Act, and Mr. Rampton has in his possession
    19        something of relevance, obviously, we do not want to vacate
    20        those people and have -----
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is why, Mr. Rampton ------
    23
    24   MR. MORRIS:  If he has to come up with it tomorrow or something,
    25        so we have time to consider our position.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  To Mr. Rampton's credit, why he has raised it
    28        now is we have still got 10 days or whatever it is before
    29        they come.  The only purpose, two purposes, as I understand
    30        it, of him mentioning it today, first of all, to bring it
    31        to your attention and to mine that there is this potential
    32        problem; secondly, to make it quite clear that you would be
    33        better to make your decision virtually straightaway rather
    34        than wait into the beginning of next week because that may
    35        still give time to sort the matter out.
    36
    37        I mean, if you came back tomorrow, having thought about it,
    38        you could say:  "Oh, well, we are going to call them
    39        anyway, and we appreciate that we are unlikely to get leave
    40        to ask them further matters in chief beyond their
    41        statements, but we are going to call them", then you will
    42        have to wait and see what, if anything, Mr. Rampton
    43        produces.  If he does produce something to put in
    44        cross-examination and you object to him doing that, then we
    45        will have legal argument on it and I will make the ruling;
    46        or you could come back tomorrow and say:  "As presently
    47        advised, we propose to put Mr. Lamti and Miss Villeneuve's
    48        statements in under the provisions of section 2 of the
    49        Civil Evidence Act".  You could then wait and see what, if
    50        anything, Mr. Rampton produces, hopefully early next week, 
    51        and then you could consider what position you are in. 
    52        I may have missed something, but at the moment I find it 
    53        very difficult to see how you lose out by following the
    54        second of those two courses.
    55
    56   MR. MORRIS:  I think we will consider our position overnight
    57        anyway on this subject.
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, I think you should.  Right.  We will
    60        resume at 2 o'clock tomorrow.

Prev Next Index