Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 35


     
     1                         (Short adjournment)
     2
     3   MR. RAMPTON:  Mrs. Barnes, before I come to your own conclusions
     4        from this accident, I want to read you something that is
     5        written in a statement by a man, or a young man called
     6        Robert Chapman which was served by the Defendants in this
     7        case, giving some account of what occurred because I think
     8        it is common ground it was he that had rewired the plug
     9        which led to the accident?
    10        A.  Yes.
    11
    12   Q.   Paragraph ----
    13
    14   MR. MORRIS:  It is not common ground.
    15
    16   MR. RAMPTON:  As a matter of fact it is.
    17
    18   MS. STEEL:  It is common ground he wired the plug.  It is not
    19        common ground that it led to the accident.
    20
    21   MR. RAMPTON:  Never mind.  My Lord, the reference is volume 2 of
    22        the Defendants' witness statements, tab 15.  It is a very
    23        short sentence.  I will read it out.  It is paragraph 9 of
    24        the statement.  He says:  "A fortnight before Mark's death
    25        I changed the filtering unit plug as wires had been
    26        stretched out and had become loose.  The Floor Manager,
    27        Sarah Wardall, watched me do this.  She was not called to
    28        testify about this at the inquest.  I said, 'I will change
    29        the plug'.  She replied, 'Be quick about it'.  I believe
    30        I changed it".
    31
    32   MR. MORRIS:  "I changed it properly".
    33
    34   MR. RAMPTON:  Sorry, "changed it properly".  You are quite
    35        right.  Mrs. Barnes, my question is this:  Did anything of
    36        that nature come to your ears directly or indirectly at the
    37        time or just after the accident?
    38        A.  No.  At the time of the accident, as far as I know
    39        anyway, Robert Chapman did not mention that anybody had
    40        seen him change the plug.
    41
    42   Q.   You were never told at that time that the Floor Manager
    43        might have told him to be quick about changing the plug?
    44        A.  No.
    45
    46   Q.   I ask you this:  If at the time when you made your own
    47        enquiry on behalf of the company you had learned that that
    48        might be so, what would you have done about it?
    49        A.  I would certainly have made sure that we would have
    50        talked to the young lady mentioned there to find out if her 
    51        recollection was the same as Robert Chapman's.  But 
    52        obviously it did not come up at the time. 
    53
    54   Q.   I can tell you without looking at it that it appears
    55        nowhere in Mr. Shirkie's report which, presumably, you
    56        received at some stage later on?
    57        A.  Yes.
    58
    59   Q.   Now going back to the file that is in front of you, I think
    60        one of the things that Mr. Shirkie asked for, recommended

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