‘My ordeal at hands of Salmond the zombie’
Ex-SNP chief accused of assault
ALEX Salmond imperson- ated a zombie with his arms out- stretched before grabbing a woman by the shoulders and kissing her, a court heard yesterday.
The 65-year-old former Scottish first minister left the SNP worker feeling ‘ humiliated’ by the ‘premeditated’ assault at Bute House during a political crisis in September 2014, it was claimed.
The woman, who can be identified only as Woman J, said Salmond, pictured, offered her whisky and invited her to lie on the floor with him before the alleged assault.
She was giving evidence at the trial of the former SNP leader, who is accused of 14 sex offences against ten women. The charges include one of attempted rape, 11 of sexual assault – including one with intent to rape – and two of indecent assault. He denies all charges.
Woman J told the High Court in Edinburgh that she accompanied Salmond to Bute House in September 2014. Salmond, pictured, was ‘angry’ and ‘pacing up and down’ after a news story broke which had been perceived to be detrimental to the Scottish independence referendum.
He became more relaxed and offered her whisky and a tour of his official residence, but she ‘froze’ when she found Salmond lying on the floor of his private living room alongside two copies of a speech, and told her to join him. She said: ‘I was panicked. He didn’t look up at me. He just said “come here and work on this speech” without making eye contact.’ She said she did lie down because she did not want to anger him.
As they were working on the speech, Salmond asked her ‘out of the blue’: ‘Have you seen that zombie movie?’ Woman J said: ‘He then stretched his arms out straight towards me and for a second or two did an impression of a zombie walking towards me.
‘He put his arms on my shoulders and leaned in to kiss me on one cheek, then proceeded to move me out of the way by my shoulders to kiss me on the other cheek, then leaned in to kiss me on the lips.’
Shelagh McCall QC, representing Salmond, put it to the witness that the incident never took place, which she denied.
The court also heard from Woman K, who said Salmond grabbed her bottom ‘quite forcefully’ while they were having a photo taken at Stirling Castle in November 2014.
The civil servant said: ‘It made me just mortified. I just wanted to do my job, I wanted to be proud of myself coming in and doing my job and it felt like I was demeaned, that it was unprofessional, that there was nothing I could do about it.’ Woman D, a civil servant who alleges Salmond sexually assaulted her on numerous occasions between May 2011 and June 2013, said he made her ‘feel extremely uncomfortable’ when he touched her bottom and stroked her arms and hair. The case continues.