Prosecutors at the Special Court for Sierra Leone "scored a spectacular own goal" by calling British model Naomi Campbell to testify in their case against Charles Taylor, lead counsel for the defence Courtenay Griffiths told reporters this morning after the hearing. Prosecutors seemed to agree and by the end of Ms Campbell's cross-examination were trying to disown her.
 
Ms Campbell was testifying today in the case against the former Liberian president who is standing trial on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions during the bloody civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. The problem facing prosecutors is that there's no evidence Mr Taylor ever set foot in Sierra Leone until he was taken there under arrest in 2006. They therefore have to establish a connection between Mr Taylor and the Revolutionary United Front rebels who murdered, raped and terrorized civilians in Sierra Leone during the decade-long conflict. In particular, prosecutors are trying to establish that Mr Taylor furnished the rebels with arms and munitions in exchange for illegally mined diamonds from Sierra Leone.
 
Reluctant witness
The prosecution alleges that Mr Taylor gave one of these so-called blood diamonds to Ms Campbell after a 1997 dinner at the home of former South African president Nelson Mandela and called Ms Campbell to testify. She was a reluctant witness and refused to appear until, at the insistence of the prosecutors, the judges issued a subpoena. But after Ms Campbell's performance this morning, the prosecutors are probably wishing they hadn't.
 
Although Ms Campbell confirmed that she was given a diamond after meeting Mr Taylor in Pretoria, she said she didn't know who had sent her the gift and the men who delivered it didn't identify themselves. She also contradicted statements by two other guests of Mr Mandela - the American actress Mia Farrow and Ms Campbell's former agent Carole White -  who are both scheduled to testify for the prosecution on Monday.
 
Not entirely truthful
Exasperated by Ms Campbell's reluctance or inability to link Mr Taylor to the diamonds, Chief Prosecutor Brenda Hollis challenged her own witness. "Miss Campbell, isn't it correct that your account today isn't entirely truthful because of your fear of Charles Taylor?" The defence immediately objected, saying that Ms Hollis was cross-examining her own witness - something that isn't allowed by the court. Presiding Judge Julia Sebitudine agreed, but Ms Hollis defended her actions saying that "for all practical purposes she isn't a prosecution witness." "Miss Hollis, if this witness is not a prosecution witness whose witness is she? You subpoenaed her to come here." Sebitudine hit back.
 
Ms Hollis now has to decide whether or not to call Mia Farrow and Carol White on Monday. If she does, she'd better make sure that the goal goes in the right net this time.