Taylor trial hears from actress Farrow
Supermodel Naomi Campbell said she received a “huge diamond” from Charles Taylor, actress Mia Farrow told the former Liberian leader’s war crimes trial in The Hague today.
Giving evidence to the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Netherlands last week, Campbell, 40, said she was given some “dirty-looking pebbles” after a dinner hosted by former South African president Nelson Mandela in 1997.
But she said she did not know who the gift was from.
However, Farrow told the court today that when Campbell came down for breakfast the next morning she began speaking even before she sat down.
She said: “What I remember is Naomi Campbell joined us at the table but before she even sat down she recounted an event of that evening.
“And she said that in the night she had been awakened, some men were knocking at the door. They had been sent by Charles Taylor and they were giving a huge diamond.
“And she said that she intended to give the diamond to Nelson Mandela’s children’s charity.”
Giving evidence last week, Campbell said she was woken in the night by two men knocking at her door.
She said she was given a pouch of “dirty-looking pebbles” but was not told who they were from.
Taylor, the former president of Liberia, is accused of war crimes during Sierra Leone’s civil war, including using diamonds to fund rebels.
He denies 11 charges, including murder, rape, sexual slavery and recruiting child soldiers.
