Mia Farrow testified yesterday at the “blood diamonds” war-crimes trial — and totally demolished Naomi Campbell’s incredible claim that she had no idea that the strangers who delivered gems to her hotel room had been sent by Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president accused of murder, mutilation and recruiting child soldiers.
The actress said the supermodel, in fact, had been “quite excited” about a “huge diamond” that an apparently smitten Taylor had bestowed on her.
“What I remember is Naomi Campbell joined us at the table but before she even sat down she recounted an event of that evening,” Farrow told the tribunal in The Hague.
“She said, ‘Oh, my God! Last night, I was awakened by men knocking at the door, and it was men sent by Charles Taylor. And he sent me a huge diamond.’
“It was a sort of an unforgettable moment,” Farrow said.
Farrow said the discussion took place the night after the diamond delivery at a 1997 breakfast in South Africa for Nelson Mandela.
Just last week, Campbell — who had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the trial — told the court that she had no idea where Liberia was or who Taylor was and didn’t even realize that her present consisted of valuable raw diamonds.
Campbell insisted she wasn’t a bit surprised at the middle-of-the-night delivery — because lots of anonymous fans shower her with presents.
The cover girl also claimed she didn’t spend much time wondering who had sent her the “very small,” dirty-looking stones, which didn’t look like they were worth very much.”
“I am used to seeing diamonds shiny and in a box,” she said.
But Farrow insisted her fellow celeb could barely contain herself about the gift.
And the 65-year-old “Rosemary’s Baby” actress repeatedly insisted Campbell was clear about the nature and the source of the gift.
Even when Taylor’s lawyer suggested that Farrow’s memory might have been failing her after 13 years, she refused to back down.
“Naomi Campbell said [the diamonds] came from Charles Taylor,” Farrow said.
“I swear on this Bible that that is what Naomi Campbell said at that breakfast.”
Farrow said she discussed the conversation with three of her children, who had also attended the breakfast.
“They remember exactly the same thing,” Farrow said.
She quoted Campbell as saying that “she intended to give the diamonds to Nelson Mandela’s children’s charity.”
But the movie star was skeptical about the claim.
“I know she didn’t say ‘a few’ [diamonds], certainly not ‘stones.’ She may not have used the word ‘huge,’ ” Farrow said.
“But it wasn’t several diamonds, and it certainly wasn’t stones because . . . why would she give stones to Nelson Mandela’s charity?”
Farrow said that at the time she herself had known little or nothing about Liberia or Taylor.
But she became suspicious when she heard from Mandela’s future wife “something to this effect: ‘No, no, you don’t want to be photographed with this man. This is the president of Liberia. He is not supposed to be here, or he should have left by now.’ ”
Farrow said she had never seen the diamonds for herself.
The actress said that if Taylor and Campbell had been flirting at a dinner the night before, as has been alleged, she didn’t see it.
She said she was seated too far away.
All in all, it was a bad day for the 40-year-old Campbell.
Her testimony was also torn down by her former agent, Carole White, who said that the catwalker was flirting with the accused war criminal and that she overheard Taylor discussing the diamonds with her.
White said she was present when two men delivered the diamonds to Campbell’s room.
“They took out a quite scruffy paper and handed it to Ms. Campbell and said, ‘These are the diamonds,’ ” White recalled.
“She showed it to me. She was quite disappointed because they were not shiny.”
Prosecutors are trying to link the gift Campbell received to Taylor, 62.
He has been accused of taking the illegally mined diamonds as payment for weapons that fueled Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war, an 11-year nightmare of murder, mutilation and sex slavery fought in the jungles of West Africa.
More than 250,000 people were killed during the brutal wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Taylor backed an especially vicious outfit called the Revolutionary United Front and its allies, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.
Taylor’s lead lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths, tried to discredit White’s testimony, saying that the former agent had an ax to grind with the British model.
White is suing Campbell for millions of dollars over an alleged breach of contract.
“You have a very powerful motive for lying,” he said.
The trial, which has been going on for three years, got extra international attention when the supermodel sashayed across the courtroom.
South African businessman Jeremy Ratcliffe, the former head of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, has confirmed that he still has three stones he received from Campbell after the 1997 dinner.
He said he hadn’t done anything with them because he did not want to link Mandela or Campbell to the blood-diamond scandal.