Europe News

Farrow, ex-agent say Campbell knew diamonds were from Taylor (Roundup)

Aug 9, 2010, 17:09 GMT

Supermodel Naomi Campbell is seen on a screen in the pressroom of the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam, Netherlands, 05 August 2010. EPA/VINCENT JANNINK/POOL

   The Hague - British supermodel Naomi Campbell knew rough diamonds given to her in 1997 were from former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, American actress Mia Farrow and the model's former agent told the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Monday.

Farrow testified that Campbell had bragged over breakfast in Cape Town in September 1997 about receiving a 'large diamond' from Taylor.

At the time, the supermodel and the actress were both attending a charity event by former South African President Nelson Mandela in Cape Town. Taylor had been present as a guest too.

Former agent Carole White also testified that Campbell had flirted with Taylor and announced that she would receive diamonds from him.

The testimonies contradicted earlier evidence by Campbell that she had not known whether the gems were from Taylor, who is charged with war crimes for allegedly backing rebels responsible for widespread atrocities during a civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

When Campbell was questioned as a witness in the trial last Thursday, she said she had received 'dirty-looking stones' in a jewellery box from messengers at night in Cape Town, but did not know who sent them. It had been Farrow who suggested to her that the stones might be from Taylor, Campbell testified.

Her spokesman, Alan Edwards, told the British broadcaster Sky News that it is normal for there to be different versions of an event when people are trying to remember what happened 13 years earlier.

Farrow, who shot to fame in 1968 with her role in Rosemary's Baby, admitted under cross-examination that she had not seen any of the diamonds. But she stood by her version of the breakfast-table conversation, saying that Campbell had spoken of a 'large diamond' and had been quite excited about it.

White, who said she represented the model for 17 years as an agent before the two split over a 2006 dispute, testified that Campbell had received five or six diamonds from Taylor.

White recalled how Campbell had excitedly turned to her during the dinner preceding the delivery of the stones, telling her 'he's going to give me some diamonds.' Taylor had smiled and nodded, White said.

'Naomi, I think, was flirting with him and he was flirting back,' she added.

Monday's testimonies did confirm Campbell's statements in one point - Farrow said the model told her that she did not intend to keep the diamonds, but would give them to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.

The charity's former head, Jeremy Ratcliffe, on Friday handed three stones over to South African police officials, who said they are planning to question a series of people - including Campbell, if needed - about them.

   Campbell's testimony in The Hague is seen by the prosecution as crucial in backing up its allegation that Taylor received so-called 'blood diamonds' from Sierra Leone in return for his support for the rebel movement there.

   Taylor, 62, has rejected the charges and insisted he never received diamonds.

He faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for being directly responsible for mass killings, rapes, sexual enslavement, torture and the enforced recruitment of child soldiers.

   More than 120,000 people died in the civil war in Sierra Leone, until it ended with the deployment of West African peacekeepers in 1999.