Naomi 'texted trial dictator'

 

NAOMI Campbell exchanged texts with dictator Charles Taylor hours before his two henchmen arrived to give her the "blood diamonds."

The supermodel's former agent Carole White said she was texting someone working for Charles Taylor who was telling her when the precious stones would arrive.
But the former model agent who worked with Naomi for 17 years was accused of lying about her version of events to try and smear her name.
Taylor's defence lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths QC, said it was a "figment of her imagination".

Dinner ... Naomi with Charles Taylor

REX

He said: "Where you say that Miss Campbell and Mr Taylor were mildly flirtatious with each other, again I suggest that's a complete fabrication by you." She replied: "It's not." He also challenged a statement Ms White gave to The Hague trial saying she heard Taylor promising to give Campbell the diamonds.
Mr Griffiths said: "The bottom line is, you made this up." Ms White claimed she and Naomi both knew the diamonds were being delivered as a gift from Charles Taylor.
Asked about the men who came with the diamonds, she told the Special Court for Sierra Leone: "They stayed no longer than 20 minutes.

Dispute ... an uncut 'blood diamond'

"We talked about the gift of the diamonds, what a long drive, would you like a Coca Cola. The men, I sort of knew who they were because they had come from Charles Taylor to bring the diamonds to Naomi, which is why they were in the house."
Carole White repeatedly denied making up her account of what happened at a September 1997 party hosted by Nelson Mandela in Pretoria, South Africa.
Campbell insisted she did NOT know who gave her a gift of diamonds after the gathering - but her ex-agent and actress Mia Farrow have both contradicted her claim.
Ms White yesterday told the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, the Netherlands, that Campbell was flirting with Taylor at the dinner and he said he would give the model some diamonds.
Taylor's defence lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths QC, suggested that she was lying and that a major part of her testimony - explaining how the diamonds were delivered to their flat - was made up because Liberia did not have MOBILE PHONES in 1997.
Mr Griffiths repeatedly quizzed Ms White about a witness statement in which she said she heard Taylor promising to give Campbell the diamonds at the dinner table.
She admitted today that she did not hear him say he would make the gift.
Mr Griffiths said: "The bottom line is, you made this up."
Ms White replied: "I did not make it up."

Trial ... Naomi in The Hague war crimes court

Ms White is suing Campbell for breach of contract, claiming that the model owes her about £375,935 in lost earnings over the past two years. Ending his cross-examination Mr Griffiths said: "I suggest you are a liar."
He then added that her memory of the evening was a "complete fabrication, which is why you are having difficulty with the details".
He also accused Ms White of having made it up in order to assist in her lawsuit against Miss Campbell.
"Put bluntly, for you this is all about money, there ain't nothing funny."
Ms White replied: "I can categorically tell you, your honour, it is not a lie. This happened.
She added: "This is not about money, this is about a very serious matter and I am telling the truth."
US star Mia, 65 - former wife of Frank Sinatra and lover of Woody Allen - was also on the trip. Yesterday she told the court in The Hague, Holland, about breakfast the morning after the Mandela party.
She said: "Miss Campbell entered the room. She was quite excited and said in effect, 'Oh my God, in the middle of the night I was woken by knocking at the door and it was men sent by Charles Taylor and he sent me a huge diamond'."
Mia added: "I didn't mishear. I swear on the Bible, that is what Naomi Campbell said that morning at breakfast."
In HER evidence to the trial last week, British supermodel Naomi said on oath: "Two men gave me a pouch and said, 'a gift for you'.
"I opened the pouch the next morning when I woke up. I saw a few stones in there, they were very small dirty-looking stones.
"Next morning at breakfast I told Ms Farrow and Ms White what had happened. One of the two said, 'That's obviously Charles Taylor', and I said, 'I guess that was'."
Naomi said that at the time: "I know (sic) nothing about Taylor, never heard of him before, never heard of Liberia before, I never heard of blood diamonds before."
Naomi had been called to give evidence in the hope she could link Taylor to blood diamonds. But her claim she did not know who the gift was from blew a hole in the prosecution case. Now the court will have to decide who to believe.
Her story was further questioned when Ms White told the court Naomi was told by Taylor he was sending her diamonds.
She said Naomi sat at dinner that night between Taylor and a Liberian official.
At one point, Carole said, Naomi leant back and told her: "He's going to give me some diamonds."
She went on: "Naomi was very excited. Taylor was smiling and nodding in agreement.
"They were mildly flirting. I heard them laughing and talking."
Naomi had told the court she was sitting next to Nelson Mandela - and NEVER had a one-to-one conversation with Taylor at dinner.
Carole then said she and Naomi stayed up and waited for the diamonds to arrive.
She recalled: "Naomi was very excited about these diamonds. She was on the phone.
"Someone was informing her the car was nearly there and on a couple of occasions she said to come and look in the garden."
They went to bed but Carole was woken by the tapping of small stones on her window, and found two African men standing outside.

She woke Naomi and the men were let in. Carole said: "They took out a quite scruffy paper and they handed it to Miss Campbell and said, 'Here are the diamonds'. She opened it and showed them to me."
Naomi gave the diamonds to the head of a children's charity to help raise cash. He was horrified when he knew where they were from but reluctantly took them.
Defence lawyers suggested Carole sought to provide ammunition for her court case for loss of earnings against Naomi.
And they alleged she held a "blood diamonds party" in London last week. She denied the claims. It was also suggested Mia was biased as she supports African causes.
Naomi's spokesman Alan Edwards said later: "If anyone tries to recollect what happened 13 years ago, the chances are you would get many variations."
Taylor, 62, denies murder, rape, sexual slavery and recruiting child soldiers. His trial continues.