Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 02


     
     1                                      Monday, 3rd April, 1995.
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  Thank you for the extension.  Before we start with
     4        the witness, we wanted to clarify the status of Ms. Hovi,
     5        whether she has been released or not.  I know the
     6        Plaintiffs have an option to recall her.  It was our
     7        understanding she has been released.  Is that the case?
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am never quite sure what "releasing" a
    10        witness really means.
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, one thing it might mean, for example, is
    13        that the person calling the witness might be at liberty to
    14        speak to the witness; if that be so, then I would
    15        emphatically say that she has not been released.  Until we
    16        notify the Defendants and your Lordship that we do not wish
    17        her to be recalled to continue her cross-examination, she
    18        should not be released and the Defendants should not speak
    19        to her.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  All I think it means is that, as far as the
    22        court is concerned, there will be no need for her to return
    23        to give her evidence in the future.  There are only two
    24        ramifications I can think of at the moment; one is that
    25        were I to say she was released, then you could talk to her
    26        about anything at all; whereas save by arrangement and
    27        agreement you ought not to when she may come back to
    28        continue her evidence.
    29
    30        The other aspect is this, that if a witness is released and
    31        then a party who might further cross-examine the witness
    32        says:  "I would like to ask him or her some further
    33        questions", and the witness does not come back for whatever
    34        reason, so that the party who would like to cross-examine
    35        further cannot, there we are.  She has finished her
    36        evidence and it is just unfortunate that he or she cannot
    37        come back.
    38
    39        If a witness is not released, that is, they leave the
    40        witness box on the understanding that there is further
    41        cross-examination to come or which might come, and then the
    42        witness does not come back for that further
    43        cross-examination, there may be an argument that one ought
    44        to disregard or not attach too much weight to the evidence
    45        he or she has given so far, because the opportunity to
    46        cross-examine further has not arisen.
    47
    48        I do not know whether either of those matters are practical
    49        considerations or not.  The only occasion I had the
    50        situation before was when a witness gave evidence-in-chief, 
    51        then gave some evidence under cross-examination and then 
    52        fell ill and could not continue to give evidence.  The 
    53        judge in that case decided that the only fair thing to do
    54        was to ignore that witness's evidence altogether because
    55        the exercise of testing it by cross-examination had not
    56        been completed.
    57
    58        Is there a particular problem you are concerned about?
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  I think if a witness is waiting to hear if

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