Day 206 - 22 Jan 96 - Page 40
1 MR. MORRIS: That is probably correct.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What do you say about that, Mr. Rampton?
4
5 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I do not mind in the very slightest.
6 I am not sure that Mr. Morris can even do with Mr. Logan
7 what he suggesting he might like to do, depending on what
8 direct evidence Mr. Logan can give about a particular
9 person. But I have no -----
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We will face that problem when we come to
12 it.
13
14 MR. RAMPTON: I agree. Where, however, Mr. Morris wants to
15 challenge some specific allegation or statement made by one
16 of my witnesses which is referable to the documents, either
17 in proof or disproof, why then, if Mr. Morris thinks that
18 the documents would contradict what the witness said, it
19 would certainly be to Mr. Morris' advantage to do it,
20 because he will not get another chance.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Give me another example of something where
23 you think one of the witnesses who Mr. Rampton was going to
24 call has said something in his statement which is
25 contradicting, you would suggest, by a document or
26 documents in either of the pink bundles. Is there one with
27 regard to Mr. Hendon, for instance?
28
29 MR. MORRIS: If I find it -- I am not sure, at a glance.
30 I mean, the basic thing is that all these documents,
31 official documents, have now been disclosed. There is a
32 lot of relevant matters in the documents. All I would like
33 is a little bit of guidance on when the appropriate time is
34 to be able to refer to those documents. Do I have to pick
35 and choose for each witness which documents may be relevant
36 to issues that they raise, or can I wait until Mr. Logan
37 comes and then we can go through the documents to see if
38 they back up his claims?
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest you do with Mr. Henden, start
41 by putting some documents, and if it is a topic where
42 Mr. Rampton is not concerned that you put it to the
43 witness, that it can just come for the first time from
44 Mr. Logan; or if Mr. Logan cannot himself speak to it, you
45 can make the comment in final submissions, then so be it.
46 If Mr. Rampton is relaxed about it, I certainly do not want
47 to put you to taking time just for the sake of form.
48
49 What concerns me is that if one of the witnesses makes a
50 specific averment, says that something is so, and you have
51 a document which you say would show that it is not so, in
52 the pink bundles, then you ought to put it to the witness,
53 because sometimes in those situations the witness looks at
54 the document and says, "Yes, but", and has an explanation
55 which, if the document is not put, they do not have an
56 opportunity of giving. It is very difficult to talk just
57 at large about it. So when you come to cross-examination,
58 I suggest to you -- start off putting documents, and we
59 will see how we go.
60
