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- Mar 4, 2010
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05.08.10
NAOMI CAMPBELL today admitted accepting "dirty" diamonds from former African dictator Charles Taylor.
The supermodel sensationally revealed she took the jewels - dubbed "blood diamonds" - after a 1997 charity dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela in South Africa. But she said she did not realise they were valuable gems at the time.
Instead she told a war crimes court she thought they were "dirty-looking pebbles". She was giving evidence at the trial in which Taylor is accused of using the diamonds to fund a civil war in Sierra Leone. The former president of Liberia also faces charges of murder, rape, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers.
Campbell initially refused to give evidence at the trial, which began in 2007, and had denied receiving anything from Taylor. But she was forced to appear after a subpoena was issued.
In 90 minutes of electrifying testimony at The Hague, she said she was handed the "gift" after going to bed. She was spending the night at Mr Mandela's presidential home in Cape Town.
Today she wore a cream skirt, top and cardigan, with an eye-shaped necklace, and arrived late for the hearing. The wait for her arrival prompted a rebuke from Justice Julia Sebutinde, who said: "I hope Ms Campbell is not being conveyed from her hotel. Where is she?"
Minutes later she arrived and swore on the Bible that she would tell the truth. She appeared calm and told the court she was woken in the middle of the night by two men knocking on her door.
They said, "Here's a gift for you", before handing her a pouch. Campbell, 40, told the hearing: "I saw a few stones in there. Very small, dirty-looking stones," she said. "There was no explanation, no note."
She said she took the pouch from the men - who she later "assumed" were acting for Taylor - left it on her bedside table and went back to sleep. The model said she did not realise until the morning, when she was having breakfast with actress Mia Farrow and her former agent Carole White, that the stones were "probably" diamonds.
She was then told the gems were from Taylor, who was among the guests at the charity dinner. "I didn't know anything about Charles Taylor," she said. "I'd never heard of him before, never heard of Liberia before, never heard the term blood diamonds' before, so I just assumed it was. I guess it was [him who gave me the diamonds]."
Campbell said she did not speak to the two men. When asked why she had not asked them why they were bringing her gems in the night, she said: "I get gifts all the time. Sometimes in the middle of the night and without knowing who they are from. It is quite normal for me to receive gifts."
She said she donated the diamonds to Jeremy Ratcliffe, head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, and told him to "do something good with them". But the court was shown a letter from the charity denying that it had received the stones and saying it would have been illegal to have done so. Campbell claimed Mr Ratcliffe, now retired, still has the gems she gave him. "He still has them so they didn't benefit," she said.
Her testimony is seen as crucial by the prosecution. One charge against Taylor is that he armed rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for so-called blood diamonds. But so far there has been little evidence to link him to diamonds, other than one witness who claims to have seen the former warlord with a mayonnaise jar full of stones.
Campbell's admission that she received the jewels was in contrast to previous comments. Earlier this year she told ABC News that she was not given any diamonds on that evening. But today the model said she denied receiving the gems as she was fearful of Taylor.
She said: "This is someone, I read on the internet, killed thousands of people supposedly. And I didn't want my family in any danger in any way.
"I did not really want to be here. I was made to be here. I want to get this over with and get on with my life. This is a big inconvenience for me."
Under questioning, the supermodel was asked to identify the guests who attended the dinner in Cape Town on September 26, 1997, hosted by South Africa's then president Mr Mandela.The star-studded gathering included Taylor, Jemima and Imran Khan, Mr Mandela and his wife, music producer Quincy Jones and actress Farrow.
Campbell denied flirting or speaking directly to Taylor during the dinner. She said she was not involved in any conversations at the dinner table about diamonds. The trial continues.
SOURCE: EVENING STANDARD
NAOMI CAMPBELL today admitted accepting "dirty" diamonds from former African dictator Charles Taylor.
The supermodel sensationally revealed she took the jewels - dubbed "blood diamonds" - after a 1997 charity dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela in South Africa. But she said she did not realise they were valuable gems at the time.
Instead she told a war crimes court she thought they were "dirty-looking pebbles". She was giving evidence at the trial in which Taylor is accused of using the diamonds to fund a civil war in Sierra Leone. The former president of Liberia also faces charges of murder, rape, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers.
Campbell initially refused to give evidence at the trial, which began in 2007, and had denied receiving anything from Taylor. But she was forced to appear after a subpoena was issued.
In 90 minutes of electrifying testimony at The Hague, she said she was handed the "gift" after going to bed. She was spending the night at Mr Mandela's presidential home in Cape Town.
Today she wore a cream skirt, top and cardigan, with an eye-shaped necklace, and arrived late for the hearing. The wait for her arrival prompted a rebuke from Justice Julia Sebutinde, who said: "I hope Ms Campbell is not being conveyed from her hotel. Where is she?"
Minutes later she arrived and swore on the Bible that she would tell the truth. She appeared calm and told the court she was woken in the middle of the night by two men knocking on her door.
They said, "Here's a gift for you", before handing her a pouch. Campbell, 40, told the hearing: "I saw a few stones in there. Very small, dirty-looking stones," she said. "There was no explanation, no note."
She said she took the pouch from the men - who she later "assumed" were acting for Taylor - left it on her bedside table and went back to sleep. The model said she did not realise until the morning, when she was having breakfast with actress Mia Farrow and her former agent Carole White, that the stones were "probably" diamonds.
She was then told the gems were from Taylor, who was among the guests at the charity dinner. "I didn't know anything about Charles Taylor," she said. "I'd never heard of him before, never heard of Liberia before, never heard the term blood diamonds' before, so I just assumed it was. I guess it was [him who gave me the diamonds]."
Campbell said she did not speak to the two men. When asked why she had not asked them why they were bringing her gems in the night, she said: "I get gifts all the time. Sometimes in the middle of the night and without knowing who they are from. It is quite normal for me to receive gifts."
She said she donated the diamonds to Jeremy Ratcliffe, head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, and told him to "do something good with them". But the court was shown a letter from the charity denying that it had received the stones and saying it would have been illegal to have done so. Campbell claimed Mr Ratcliffe, now retired, still has the gems she gave him. "He still has them so they didn't benefit," she said.
Her testimony is seen as crucial by the prosecution. One charge against Taylor is that he armed rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for so-called blood diamonds. But so far there has been little evidence to link him to diamonds, other than one witness who claims to have seen the former warlord with a mayonnaise jar full of stones.
Campbell's admission that she received the jewels was in contrast to previous comments. Earlier this year she told ABC News that she was not given any diamonds on that evening. But today the model said she denied receiving the gems as she was fearful of Taylor.
She said: "This is someone, I read on the internet, killed thousands of people supposedly. And I didn't want my family in any danger in any way.
"I did not really want to be here. I was made to be here. I want to get this over with and get on with my life. This is a big inconvenience for me."
Under questioning, the supermodel was asked to identify the guests who attended the dinner in Cape Town on September 26, 1997, hosted by South Africa's then president Mr Mandela.The star-studded gathering included Taylor, Jemima and Imran Khan, Mr Mandela and his wife, music producer Quincy Jones and actress Farrow.
Campbell denied flirting or speaking directly to Taylor during the dinner. She said she was not involved in any conversations at the dinner table about diamonds. The trial continues.
SOURCE: EVENING STANDARD
