Veteran lawyer Julian Hall dramatically took the stand in the Supreme Court in his own defence yesterday and told a jury that two psychologists had found a former client to be competent enough to make her own decisions.

And the shadow minister claimed ?ultimately all my problems started when I joined the Progressive Labour Party? and that the current trial was an extension of a campaign to destroy him professionally.

Hall told the jury he understood that he had ?no legal obligation to use a client trust account? when handling Betty Lorraine McMahon?s money because the millionaire widow knew that he would be handling her affairs here.

Hall produced a report from Dr. Henry Weinstein, a psychologist at the New York University School of Medicine, and a letter to Mrs. McMahon?s daughter from the chief medical officer at St. Brendan?s Hospital, painting a picture of Mrs. McMahon?s ability to understand her legal problems.

Hall, 55, of Whaling Hill, Southampton is being tried on five counts of stealing a total of $551,044 from Mrs. McMahon between 1995 and 1996.

Through a series of formal admissions over the course of the trial, Hall has admitted to using $288,000 of Mrs. McMahon?s funds to pay off his debts.

Mr. Hall left the then-ruling United Bermuda Party to join the PLP from the late 1970s. He sat in Parliament on the Opposition benches for a decade until he was defeated in the 1993 General Election. Hall was bankrupted twice, once in 1980 and later in 2000. He said he became used to being the target of various allegations. He was ordered in December 1997, to pay Mrs. McMahon, $1.6 million plus seven percent interest. As legal proceedings dragged on, he was charged with stealing from the woman. He has denied those charges.

The case is being heard by Chief Justice Richard Ground and prosecuted by consultant counsel to Department of Public Prosecution?s office Kulandra Ratneser. Hall is representing himself. The widow is not considered fit to be a witness in the case.

Hall said that he met Mrs. McMahon through dinner parties. He met Mrs. McMahon?s younger daughter Bettina when he helped her boyfriend, John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas band with a drugs charge in Bermuda.

Bettina McMahon currently lives in New York City. ?In June 1995 I got a call from Bettina,? said Hall. ?She thought her mother needed my help. She said I should either go and visit her mother or wait for her to visit the island.?

He said Bettina McMahon wanted his help because her mother was concerned about how her affairs were being handled by the Bank of Butterfield and Appleby, Spurling & Kempe which held the power of attorney over her.

At the time, Mrs. McMahon?s psychologist was Dr. Thomas Tennant.

Hall said he hired Dr. Weinstein on Mrs. McMahon?s behalf to assess her mental state. In court, Hall was allowed to read part of an affidavit signed by Dr. Weinstein, even though Dr. Weinstein will not be a witness in the case.

Chief Justice Ground said he was allowing this, not to examine whether Dr. Weinstein?s assessment was accurate, but because it was ?relevant to Julian Hall?s state of mind at the time?.

In the affidavit dated 25 August 1995, Dr. Weinstein said that Mrs. McMahon could be in the early stages of Parkinson?s Disease.

?Her memory is slightly impaired,? he said. ?She exaggerates this deficit because she can recall dates to some extent. She may seem overly compliant at times but I believe this is a lifelong style of relating. Nor did I find impairment of her judgment.?

Hall also read from a letter from Dr. Tennant to Mrs. McMahon?s older daughter Francine Ryan?s American attorney, Louisa Smith Adams. This letter expressed views similar to Dr. Weinstein?s.

Dr. Tennant wrote in the letter: ?On 29 November 1995 I met with Julian Hall and Mrs. McMahon at her house. She clearly understood what was being asked of her and was able to explain it back to me.?

He also wrote that Mrs. McMahon had spoken positively of Hall.

Dr. Tennant refuted statements by Mrs. McMahon?s paid companion Cathleen Finkenstaedt that Mrs. McMahon did not understand what was going on, frequently escaped from the house without clothing, incapable of initiative a conversation on her own, or making a telephone call.

?She certainly used the phone with me,? said Hall. ?She got one of the servants to make the call for her. I thought that is what rich people do. I didn?t think it was a phobia.?

Hall said that whatever disorder Mrs. McMahon suffered from it did not affect her ability to give him instructions.

Hall also said that Mrs. McMahon was aware that he was transferring some of her funds into his own personal accounts including Woodley Limited and JS Management rather than a client trust account which is often the case when a lawyer handles a client?s money.

?She knew that I was going to be handling payments on her behalf, particularly payments dealing with Bettina McMahon,? said Hall. ?I took the view that I was in no legal obligation to use a client trust account.?

Other witnesses have also testified that there was a great deal of jealously between Bettina McMahon and her sister Francine Ryan over whether they were getting equal amounts of money from their mother.

In court, Hall said this was the reason he had to transfer Mrs. McMahon?s money into the Woodley account. He said when he went through the normal channels it inevitably ignited accusations from one daughter or the other that they weren?t being treated equally.

?At this time there was a lot of snooping and prying into the way that her affairs were being conducted,? said Hall. ?

During his testimony, Hall also refuted a number of accusations made by Francine Ryan when she testified earlier.

?I have had a number of affairs in my life but none with Bettina ? She was not my type,? he said, to laughter from the gallery.?

He told the jury he was not representing Bettina McMahon and had never told anyone that he was.

?I have never done cocaine with Bettina McMahon. Period,? Hall said referring to a statement ? already struck down by Chief Justice Ground as hearsay ? made by Mrs. Ryan.

Hall gave the jury a potted history of his life. He said that since he had been bankrupted he had been unable to make a living as a lawyer, because a bill had been passed stopping bankrupted lawyers from practising.

In her earlier testimony he said this law was passed specifically to stop him from practising.

He said the Bank of Butterfield and AS&K seemed to have a vendetta against him.

?Every time I was put into bankruptcy the firm involved was Appleby, Spurling & Kempe,? said Hall. ?My financial embarrassments in 1994 were a matter of public record. An avalanche of financial pressures fell on me within the course of a year. I thought that some of the pressure had been artificially driven by the Bank of Butterfield and AS&K. I was in no doubt about why. I have been blessed with some gifts.?

Hall said during his political career he fought fights that other people didn?t want to fight, such as one against capital punishment. ?I have fought in every arena of human rights in this country,? he said. ?A lot of problems that I have faced in this case are caused by racism.?

Hall has alleged that Mrs. McMahon was concerned that four million had been misappropriated under the watch of the Bank of Butterfield and AS&K and she wanted it investigated. Nothing came of these allegations.

?I had a number of conversations with Mrs. McMahon were I expressed my reluctance to take on the Bank of Butterfield and AS&K ? but I was trying to get to the bottom of what she wanted me to see into,? he said.