THE HAGUE (LALATE) – Naomi Campbell admits she received blood diamonds. Naomi Campbell’s blood diamonds testimony during the Charles Taylor testimony at the Hague is critical, contradicting the former Liberian president’s claim that he didn’t possess any such diamonds. Campbell’s testimony was a shock for the defense, Campbell admitting that in 1997 she was given the diamonds.

Taylor said he never had such diamonds from Sierre Leone allegedly used to fuel the effort by rebels. Mia Farrow has also claimed that Taylor gave Campbell the uncut diamonds after a 1997 dinner party hosted by Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

Mia Farrow is expected the verifiy the gift to Campbell during her testimony next week. Farrow previously said “[Naomi] told us she had been awakened in the night by knocking at her door. She opened the door to find two or three men – I do not recall how many – who presented her with a large diamond which they said was from Charles Taylor.”

Campbell told the court : “I had never heard of Charles Taylor before. I had never heard of the country Liberia before. I had never the term blood diamonds before.”

“I did not want to be here. I was made to be here. I had never heard the term blood diamonds before. This is someone who, I read on the internet, has killed thousands of people. I don’t want my family endangered in any way.”

Campbell said she was sleeping when someone knocked on her door. “They said ‘a gift for you’ and then gave me a pouch. They were two black men. I took it, said thank you and closed the door. There was no explanation, no note. When they gave me the pouch I just put it close to my bed and went back to bed. I opened the pouch the next morning when I woke up. I saw a few stones. They were very, small, dirty looking stones.”