Day 050 - 10 Nov 94 - Page 26

     
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     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I would like you to make a check because if,
     3        for instance, she was going on Wednesday or Thursday, with
     4        every sympathy for her distressing experience, if she came
     5        on Monday, we might find that she was perfectly well able
     6        to do it.  If she came and said, "I am not up to it", then
     7        there we are; or if she was obviously under stress or
     8        strain, there we are.  But she might well come on Monday
     9        and clearly be doing herself perfectly good credit in the
    10        way she gave her evidence; and we would have avoided what
    11        I would like to avoid, which is having put a substantial
    12        witness, in a section of the case where the evidence is
    13        otherwise complete, off into the future.
    14
    15        It is not just my concern to get on with the case.  It is
    16        easier for me to follow.  What may be at least as
    17        important, it is easier for you to have a hold on things if
    18        we do these matters in sections.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:   Obviously, we would rather that she was coming
         today to finish off, so that we could finish it this week.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will have a ten minute break now.  What I
    24        would like you to do is to try to communicate with her now.
    25        Say that I am sympathetic to her unhappy experience; we
    26        have no intention of starting her this week, but I would
    27        very much like to start her on Monday, if, for instance,
    28        she is not planning to go away on her holiday until
    29        Wednesday.  If, when she comes on Monday, she is clearly
    30        too distressed to go on, then we will have wasted time all
    31        coming here only to find that out.  But my own view is that
    32        it is worth having a try on that.
    33
    34   MS. STEEL:   The problem is, she does have to do all her
    35        preparation.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Quite frankly, I think it is too early just
    38        to say, however she feels at the moment, that she will be
    39        too distressed to do justice to herself on Monday.
    40
    MS. STEEL:  She has to go through all the things again to make
    42        notes.
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I appreciate that.  I would like you to make
    45        the phone call, and I would like you to make the phone call
    46        not from a fixed stand that you do not want her to give
    47        evidence at the beginning of next week, for whatever
    48        reason, because she has said at the moment that she is not
    49        sure she is up to it.  I would like you to canvas it
    50        perfectly openly and in a balanced way with her (as I am 
    51        sure you will) and say that, apart from anything else, it 
    52        is probably better for her if she gives her evidence, goes 
    53        away on holiday and forgets all about the case.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:  We would like her to come to give evidence next
    56        week, but we do not feel that it is -- I mean, it has been
    57        said quite a few times that it is up to the parties when
    58        they call the witnesses.  We do not feel that it is fair if
    59        she is put under pressure.
    60