SLOPPY KISSES LEFT ME DISGUSTED
Witness claims she was embarrassed and humiliated by former first minister
A WITNESS in the Alex Salmond trial yesterday told a court she was left feeling “disgusted” after receiving unwanted “sloppy kisses” from the ex-first minister.
Woman A said she was also left “embarrassed and humiliated”.
A SENIOR Scottish Government official yesterday told the Alex Salmond trial how unwanted “sloppy kisses” from the politician left her feeling “quite disgusted”.
The woman said Salmond would also place his hand on her back while they stood together then move it to the “side of my chest or on my bum”.
She told the High Court in Edinburgh that in one encounter, the former first minister ran his hands “down the curve of my body to my hips” then told her: “You look good, you’ve lost weight.”
Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC asked why she didn’t tell the then SNP leader to stop this behaviour.
The witness – known as Woman A – replied: “I didn’t know how to tell the first minister not to do that. He was the most powerful man in the country.
“I did not know what would happen if I said ‘get off ’.
“I had experienced some volatile mood swings from him. It was almost easier to move away than risk antagonising him.”
Salmond is standing trial accused of a total of 14 charges against 10 women, which are said to have happened while he was serving as first minister. He denies all of them.
Woman A accuses him of indecently assaulting her in Glasgow between June and July 2008. One charge alleges he kissed her on the mouth and touched her buttocks and breast over her clothing on several occasions.
Giving evidence behind a screen on the third day of the trial, Woman A told how Salmond would sometimes kiss her on the lips when he greeted her. He would move in as if going to kiss her cheek then kiss her lips.
She told the jury it would leave her feeling “quite disgusted, embarrassed, humiliated by it”.
Woman A said: “It was very sloppy and unpleasant.”
She said that on occasions Salmond would place a hand on her back when they were in close proximity then shift his hand to the “side of my chest or on my bum”. She said this happened “three or four times”.
Woman A added: “No one else did it. There was no need for it.”
The court heard she began to carry a bag to put some distance between her and Salmond.
She also accuses him of sexual assault over an encounter at an Edinburgh nightclub in December 2010 or December 2011.
She said he looked at her and put his hands on her shoulders, adding: “He ran his hands down the curve of my body to my hips. He commented, ‘You look good, you’ve lost weight.’”
Mr Prentice asked how it made her feel. She replied: “Disgusted. I was really disturbed that he thought it was OK.”
The witness said his touch was “quite firm”, adding: “The feel of that touch is something that I can remember.”
Asked about the incident, Woman A said: “I just wanted to get away from him.”
She said she told no one about what happened at that time.
Asked by Mr Prentice if she had encouraged any of the behaviour she said Salmond carried out, she replied: “Not at all.” He asked if she ever gave “approval or consent” and she replied: “No.”
Gordon Jackson QC, defending, suggested the behaviour was “not distressing in any shape or form”, and it only changed for the witness after later events. Woman A said that was “categorically wrong”.
Mr Jackson said “trivial things” turned into criminal charges in the wake of reports in the Daily Record that Salmond was being investigated by police.
The woman said: “I don’t decide what criminal charges are.” Mr
Jackson then asked her about the incident where Salmond allegedly ran his hands down her body. He asked if she considered it “groping”.
Woman A said she did, adding that Salmond was “touching my breasts, my waist, my hips”.
She denied suggestions from Mr Jackson that she had encouraged other people to make complaints following the Record articles in August 2018.
The witness said she didn’t encourage people to complain.
He ran his hands down my body and said, ‘You look good, you’ve lost weight’ WOMAN A
A FORMER Scottish Government official has denied claims by Alex Salmond that he had a consensual “sexual encounter” with her after she began kissing him.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied she pulled down his trousers as part of a consensual tryst.
Shelagh McCall QC, representing Salmond, put it to the witness that he was still wearing his underpants during this embrace.
But the former official – known as Woman H – denied the allegation and told how Salmond boasted of being a “great lover” as she tried to fend off his advances.
She maintained his underpants were down, adding she had a “horrific image of him being fully aroused and lying over me”.
The woman, who was giving evidence for a third day, has described two alleged sex attacks by Salmond at Bute House in Edinburgh in 2014.
The second, which allegedly took place in June 2014 in the residence’s Connery Room, has seen Salmond charged with trying to rape her at his then-residence as first minister.
Salmond, 65, faces 14 charges of alleged offences against 10 women at his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. He denies all the charges.
Cross examining the witness, Ms McCall put it to her that “Mr Salmond does say he had a sexual encounter with you but it was in August 2013” in Bute House, not June 2014. The witness replied: “That’s not true.” The QC said the pair were “both merry with alcohol” on that occasion after drinking shots together, according to her client.
Ms McCall asked: “Did you start to unbutton Mr Salmond’s shirt?” Woman H replied: “No, absolutely not.” Ms McCall asked: “Did you kiss him and he kissed you back?”
Woman H answered: “I spent a large part of that night trying to avoid him kissing me. I was dodging his advances.”
Ms McCall asked: “Did you pull his trousers to his knees?” She added that Salmond’s “underpants were not down, just his trousers”.
Woman H said “absolutely not”, adding that she had the “horrific image” of Salmond being “fully aroused and lying over me”. She said he wasn’t wearing underwear.
Ms McCall said: “Did you say to him, ‘I didn’t mean for this to happen?’”
Woman H replied: “I said lots of things. ‘I didn’t want this to happen. You’re my boss.’” Ms McCall asked the question again. Woman H replied: “No.” Ms McCall asked if both the witness and Salmond sat up and put their clothes on after realising they were making a mistake. Woman H replied: “Absolutely not.”
Ms McCall said: “Did you then go back to the sitting room and discuss what had happened, and that you were embarrassed?”
Witness H: “No. He was exhausted by his efforts to get me to sleep with him, that he was such a great lover that I kept saying no to.”
She said Salmond didn’t leave the room, adding: “He stayed in the room because he was drunk and snoring.”
Ms McCall asked if they “both got a bit carried away” but realised it was “not a good idea” and “you then left”? Woman H answered: “That isn’t true.” Ms McCall said there was an encounter between the witness and Salmond in August 2013 “at your instigation” and that she gave her consent. Woman H replied: “That’s not true.” Ms McCall suggested the witness was a “willing participant”.
Woman H replied: “I have never been a willing participant in Alex Salmond’s advances towards me.”
Earlier yesterday, Ms McCall put it to Woman H that she gave evidence on Tuesday saying that no one was “cheerleading” her to go to police about Salmond. The witness agreed that she had. She asked Woman H about a statement she gave to police on
September 4, 2018. The QC read from that statement, which stated Woman H said she contacted the SNP party official for compliance and governance in November 2017 about her allegations against Salmond.
The statement also said she later spoke to the “party solicitor”.
Ms McCall read a line from the police statement which said: “They encouraged me to speak to the police and that’s why I’m providing the statement.”
Ms McCall asked if that was what the witness told police. Woman H replied: “That’s about right, yes.”
The trial before judge Lady Dorrian continues.