Day 070 - 20 Dec 94 - Page 09
1 statement, but he also says that if something remains as an
2 ongoing controversy or issue -- which absolutely,
3 certainly, Coope Montecillos is an ongoing issue, because
4 of continuous applications and court cases in this country
5 and other countries to do with "Jungle Burger", and -----
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: These points may be good or bad points but,
8 on the face of it, you have an affidavit sworn by
9 Mr. Cesca. We do not have Mr. Cesca here. There is no
10 question of him going into the witness box to be
11 cross-examined by you today, or even as soon as we come
12 back next term, about these matters. What you are doing is
13 expressing reservations, which may or may not be justified,
14 on the honesty of his affidavit.
15
16 MR. MORRIS: We will leave that matter, but just say that we
17 would like Dr. Gomez Gonzalez to come back earlier, if
18 possible, than February, so that we can get this matter
19 rolling as regards -----
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I would say is, I think it is in
22 everyone's interests that he comes back absolutely as soon
23 as possible. It sounds as though that will not be later
24 than February. Quite frankly, I think he should be here
25 for a whole week. That is not an invitation to question
26 him for a whole week, but the sort of thing I can see
27 happening is, quite apart from the necessary time in
28 questioning, that something may crop up which has to be
29 pursued while he is actually here and before he goes back.
30 That is just a personal view as to what would be sensible.
31
32 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I do, if I may respectfully do so, pick
33 up what your Lordship has said about that. Can I put it
34 this way: if one goes back to the leaflet and remembers
35 what is said about the rainforest in the leaflet, there is
36 a significant danger that because the Defendants, quite
37 obviously, do not wish to grapple with the issues raised by
38 the leaflet so far as the rainforests are concerned, this
39 particular issue may get blown out of all proportion to the
40 importance it has for the case. To offer the Defendants,
41 as it were, a week of grappling with Dr. Gomez Gonzalez is
42 -- well, there it is.
43
44 One has seen what has happened in the past. Give them
45 three days, they will take three days. They seem to think
46 that they need to bat out time, even it is a timeless test;
47 they seem to think they have to bat through till stumps.
48
49 I am very unwilling to go further in the rainforest issue
50 than I absolutely have to. I quite agree that Dr. Gomez
51 Gonzalez still has a lot of evidence to give about
52 animals. That is quite a separate matter. But he is not
53 the rainforest person, the principal rainforest person. He
54 knows something about it, that is clear. It is Mr. Cesca
55 who is the principal rainforest person.
56
57 What I do not want to happen, if it is at all avoidable, is
58 that we should have the kind of cross-examination of
59 Dr. Gomez Gonzalez on Costa Rica which we have already had
60 and which, no doubt, if he is here for another week, will
