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The Great Salmond Sex Scandal


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This morning's Times' take on yesterday's events in Court is below

Perhaps best not to let your wife or servants read it. 

 

Alex Salmond ‘pounced’ on woman, trial hears

Mike Wade

Monday March 09 2020, 7.50pm, The Times

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/naked-salmond-laid-on-me-official-tells-court-78x72rwcc

(Paywall)

 

Alex Salmond stripped naked and lay on top of a Scottish government official after a dinner at the first minister’s residence, a court was told.

The woman said that she felt “hunted” by Mr Salmond, who was then the first minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP, during an alleged incident in which he is accused of trying to rape her.

 

On the first day of his trial over accusations of sexual assault, the woman, who is no longer an official, claimed that he “full-on pounced” on her after an evening of drinking at a dinner at his official residence, then stripped off her clothes and pushed her on to a bed.

By then, she told the court, he was naked. She described finding him “on top of me, aroused, his private parts on top of mine”. She said: “I thought, ‘Holy Christ!’ I did not want to feel humiliated, I felt hunted down.”

Fighting him off had been like being in the ring with “Ali and Foreman”, she claimed and she had felt scared, “frozen inside” and humiliated.

The complainant, identified only as Woman H to protect her identity, said that she had never wanted Mr Salmond to touch her during either of two alleged incidents at Bute House in Edinburgh. She said: “He wasn’t remotely attractive. Why the hell would I want him to be involved with me?” The first minister had told her he would be a great lover, she claimed. But he was probably “a bit drunk”. She alleged: “He passed out and started snoring.”

 

Woman H was giving evidence about two alleged incidents, including one charge of attempted rape, on the first day of a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, where Mr Salmond, 65, faces 14 charges.

All the alleged offences are said to have taken place between 2007, when he was elected first minister, and 2014, when he led the Yes campaign to a narrow defeat in the Scottish independence referendum.

The charges comprise 11 sexual assaults including one “with intent to rape” and two indecent assaults, as well as the attempted rape.

 

Gordon Jackson, QC, for the defence, cited “consent” as a special defence to four charges — three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault. Another special defence was lodged of having an alibi to a charge of sexual assault. Mr Salmond denies all the charges.

 

Mr Salmond remained a “well-known public figure”, Lady Dorrian, the trial judge, said as she began the process of enlisting the jury. Its members were told that if any of them had “strong feelings in support or in animosity, in respect of the accused” they should stand down. None did.

 

Woman H described how she became involved with the SNP despite being only “a soft supporter” of independence. She frequently attended meetings at Bute House, often into the evening. She went on to describe two alleged assaults during 2014, claiming she had fought off both.

 

The first alleged assault took place after Mr Salmond had been drinking shots of Maotai, a liqueur that was a gift from the Chinese ambassador, the witness said. On that occasion, Mr Salmond was said to be “half-cut”.

Woman H recalled: “I remember he said it was good luck to link arms when you drink it. It was uncomfortable. I was never comfortable in his private personal space so that felt awkward.”

He told her to sit with him on the floor, she said, while he showed her something on his mobile phone.

“He started groping me basically,” Woman H said. “He was touching my legs, then his left hand moved up and he was touching my chest, and kissing my face and neck.”

When she protested, she told the court, Mr Salmond had laughed at her.

 

She claims that she was assaulted again the following month, when she was pushed on to a bed. This was the time of the alleged attempted rape, which was said to have happened after a reception at the first minister’s residence. She was on a sofa in the drawing room, while Mr Salmond, his tie removed and the top buttons of his shirt undone, stood talking to her, she said.

This time, she alleged, Mr Salmond sat next to her and pulled her legs over his own, and because she was wearing a skirt, not trousers, she felt “extra vulnerable”. He touched her shirt, her upper body and kissed her, she said.

She stood, and started to move away, she said, adding: “I started to feel I was being chased.” When she attempted to leave the room, Mr Salmond was said to have stuck out his arm to impede her.

Alex Prentice, for the prosecution, asked her to describe what happened next. “I just felt his behaviour had turned a bit. He was titillated by the situation. He wanted me to kiss him back and be OK with him touching me,” she said. She had, she told Mr Prentice, given no indication that she welcomed Mr Salmond’s advance. “He was full on in my shirt, touching my bra,” she alleged. “I was saying, ‘What are you doing? This is not OK. Stop!’”

After hatching an “escape plan” she finally shut herself in a bathroom, where she curled up in a ball, she told the court. Mr Salmond had fallen asleep and she said that, as the sun came up, she left by taking a lift to the basement and leaving by the back door.

 

The case continues.

 

The 14 charges

• June and July 2008 Indecent assault on various occasions on woman A in Glasgow
• December 2010 or 2011 Sexual assault on woman A at nightclub
• October to November 2010 Indecent assault on woman B at Bute House, his official residence, Edinburgh
• February 2011 Sexual assault on woman C in a car in Edinburgh
• May 2011 to June 2013 Sexual assault on woman D on various occasions in Edinburgh
• October 2013 Sexual assault at Bute House on woman E
• Between November and December 2013 Sexual assault on woman F at Bute House
• December 2013 Intent to rape woman F at Bute House
• March 2012 Sexual assault of woman G at a restaurant, Glasgow
• April 2014 Sexual assault of woman G at Bute House
• May 2014 Sexual assault of woman H at Bute House
• June 2014 Attempted rape of woman H at Bute House
• September 2014 Sexual assault on woman J at Bute House
• November 2014 Sexual assault on woman K at Stirling Castle

Mr Salmond denies all the charges.

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I can see this trial being one of these cases were the jury will be told to leave the court so the prosecution and defence can chew over points of law , if that happens then jurors become a little lost some get fed up and will just vote with any decision put forward in the jury room. 

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12 minutes ago, compo said:

I can see this trial being one of these cases were the jury will be told to leave the court so the prosecution and defence can chew over points of law , if that happens then jurors become a little lost some get fed up and will just vote with any decision put forward in the jury room. 

I can't see why. I doubt points of law will be that relevant. It'll likely come down to who is more believable between the accused and the alleged victims (if the jury are going to do their jobs correctly).

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Second Counsel for the defence is a human rights specialist. They must have some cunning plan.

 

Jurors fall into two categories. 1 - The accused must be guilty otherwise the bobbies wouldn’t have brought him here.  2 - Coppers are all bent. Not guilty whether he did it or not.

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1 hour ago, Scott7 said:

Jurors fall into two categories. 1 - The accused must be guilty otherwise the bobbies wouldn’t have brought him here.  2 - Coppers are all bent. Not guilty whether he did it or not.

I hope that's not the case ☹️.

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1 hour ago, Scott7 said:

Jurors fall into two categories. 1 - The accused must be guilty otherwise the bobbies wouldn’t have brought him here.  2 - Coppers are all bent. Not guilty whether he did it or not.

Just coz that's what it's like in your house....

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1 hour ago, Scott7 said:

Second Counsel for the defence is a human rights specialist. They must have some cunning plan.

 

Jurors fall into two categories. 1 - The accused must be guilty otherwise the bobbies wouldn’t have brought him here.  2 - Coppers are all bent. Not guilty whether he did it or not.

So, what you're saying is .... women on one side and men on the other.

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