Supermodel Naomi Campbell Received Dirty Stones After Dinner with Nelson Mandela

The supermodel Naomi Campbell appeared Thursday at the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, and testified that she had been given a pouch containing "very small, dirty-looking stones" after she met Mr. Taylor at a dinner with Nelson Mandela in South Africa 13 years ago.

Photo: Supermodel Naomi Campbell Received Dirty Stones After Dinner with Nelson Mandela

But she did not keep the stones and handed them on, she said, to a friend who at that time was a trustee of the charitable Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, according to New York Times.

Jeremy Ratcliffe on Friday admitted he had "just kept" the three small uncut stones until recently after telling Campbell it might be illegal to export them.

Ratcliffe also said he would be a witness at Taylor's trial at the International Court at The Hague.

Campbell told the court she gave the stones to South African-based Ratcliffe in 1997 hoping they could benefit a good cause. He was director of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund at the time. Ratcliffe said he did not tell the fund about the stones, The Press Association reports.