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The Great Salmond Sex Scandal


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7 hours ago, Bill said:

I was amazed to see Moira by his side the other day. I'd have thought she'd be communicating strictly through her solicitor now.

It’s right that an old mother should stand by her son in times of trouble. 
 

Oh, wait .....

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To fill in the hours before judgement, below is something for the weekend, from The Times, yesterday

 

Interestingly, both the prosecution and the defence are based on a pattern of behaviour, viz.

1. a pattern of alleged assaults (various and of varying severity) against different women at different times

2. a pattern of complaints of such assaults against Salmond by a number of women, who all happen to have been in and around the "political bubble" when alleged assaults took place. 

I am tempted to suggest that being in the political bubble would have made them available for assault. 

 

 

Alex Salmond waits to hear fate as jury sent home for the weekend

Kieran Andrews

Saturday March 21 2020, 12.01am, The Times

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/alex-salmond-waits-to-hear-fate-as-jury-sent-home-for-the-weekend-qktwnm97f

 

A jury deliberating on 13 sexual assault charges brought against Alex Salmond is expected to reach a verdict on Monday.

The 15-strong jury, comprising nine women and six men, was sent home yesterday after failing to come to a conclusion following two-and-a-half hours of deliberation.

They were sent out after being instructed by Judge Lady Dorrian, who is presiding over the case, that they must decide whether the charges have been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

She told the jurors to ignore evidence that was based on hearsay and that a form of corroboration known as the Moorov doctrine could be used where multiple women’s testimony — if it is reliable — shows a pattern of similar behaviour over a period of time.

Mr Salmond, 65, denies 13 sexual offence charges against nine women, who were all either working for the Scottish government or within the SNP at the time.

The accusations span a period from June 2008 to November 2014 and range from him allegedly stroking a civil servant’s hair to allegedly trying to rape a former Scottish government official in Bute House.

Gordon Jackson, QC, for the defence, said that the former first minister could have been a “better man” but was not guilty of the offences.

He said that there was a “pattern” in which “something that was thought nothing of at the time” had become a criminal charge in the High Court in Edinburgh. “There’s something going on,” he said. “I can’t prove it but I can smell it. There’s something not right.”

Mr Jackson said the jury had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Salmond was “not an eejit or inappropriate, it was criminal — serious, serious matters”.

The lawyer pointed to one of the more “trivial” allegations, which he said had been used to bolster the two charges that were serious — allegations of intending to rape and attempting to rape — adding: “This is scary stuff.”

Mr Jackson quoted one of the complainers during his speech. “I wish for my life the first minister was a better man and I was not here,” he said.

He said it was a “good line”, which was also used at the beginning of the closing speech of Alex Prentice, QC, the crown prosecutor, on Thursday.

Mr Jackson said: “If in some ways the former first minister had been a better man, I wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be here, none of us would be here.

“I’m not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn’t have been a better man on occasions. That would be a waste of my time.

“But I’m in a court of law and I’m dealing, not with whether he could have been a better man, because he certainly could have been better.

“I’m dealing with whether or not it was established he was guilty of serious, sometimes very serious, criminal charges,” he said.

Mr Jackson — who called Mr Salmond a “Marmite man” — said that a ”very, very high standard of proof” was required to find the former first minister guilty of criminality.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not suggesting you can work it out either. But I do know this — every single complainer brought to this trial is in the political bubble,” he said.

“This has gone far enough, gone on long enough, too long maybe, and it’s time I say to you, quite bluntly, to bring this to an end.”

Three verdicts are available to the jury: guilty, not guilty and not proven, the latter two being verdicts of acquittal in the Scottish legal system. Verdicts can be returned unanimously or by a majority, with at least eight of the 15 jurors needing to agree.

Mr Salmond’s lawyers previously lodged special defences of consent and alibi. Consent was given as a defence for three alleged sexual assaults and an alleged indecent assault against three women.

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