154. The third weakness is the late hearing of the suit in respect of damages. As stated earlier, it was only in May 2006, close to eight years after the incident and only a few months before the end of court proceedings, that the civil suit was heard for the first time by the Investigating Magistrate (supra, paragraph 102), whereas the civil parties had complained and sought damages as early as 6 January 1999 (supra, paragraph 16). Diligence would certainly have required that they be heard at the early stages of the investigation regardless of the outcome.