Women were not to be alone with Alex Salmond in Bute House and he was not to get any private civil service support at night
– Alleged victim, Woman G, a Scottish Government official, claims staffing procedures were changed because of the then-First Minister’s behaviour
MONDAY A woman told how she felt “hunted” by Alex Salmond moments before an alleged attempted rape in Bute House.
The former Scottish Government official told the High Court in Edinburgh about two alleged incidents, including one where the former First Minister tried to rape her in June 2014.
The alleged incident occurred after a dinner at the First Minister’s official residence. She said: “He was touching my legs, running his hands up and down them. He started trying to kiss me and things – kiss me and touch my shirt and my upper body. I was talking to him the whole time, trying to explain why this wasn’t OK.”
It was heard he blocked her path when she tried to leave. The court heard Mr Salmond kept asking her to stay overnight and she agreed but on condition they stayed in separate rooms. She said Mr Salmond followed her in with a bottle of red wine, pounced on her, stripped himself naked and pushed her on to the bed.
“I felt like I was hunted. I remember feeling him on top of me. I just did one final push to get him away and managed to get him on the other side of the bed.” She said the alleged assault came to an end when Mr Salmond fell asleep.
Evidence was also given about a previous alleged sexual assault in Bute House in May 2014. Woman H had stayed behind to work with Mr Salmond when they began doing shots of a Chinese white spirit.
She said: “He was putting his hand down my top and kissing my face and neck and touching my legs.”
It was heard she then managed to make her excuses and leave.
TUESDAY
The first witness continued her evidence and told how she suffered flashbacks following the Harvey Weinstein case, the court heard. Woman H said she had started to hear about the #MeToo movement.
“These issues started to be discussed and I started to have what I could describe as flashbacks,” she told the court. She said she had texted the SNP’s head of compliance or governance, and a series of text exchanges were read out in court. In one message, on November 5, 2017, Woman H had texted the party official to tell him the behaviour she wanted to report involved an ex-parliamentary figure, adding: “You can guess who.”
The official later wrote back: “We’ll sit on that and hope we never need to deploy it.”
Woman H told Shelagh McCall QC, representing Mr Salmond, she wanted the SNP to know what had allegedly happened so party officials could use the information in a vetting process if he decided to re-enter politics.
Ms McCall QC accused Woman H of making up the attempted rape. Woman H replied: “I wish for my life that were true but that’s not.”
WEDNESDAY
The second alleged victim, a senior Scottish Government official known as Woman A, said she felt “disgusted” after Mr Salmond ran his hands down her body at a Christmas party.
She added: “He ran his hands down the curve of my body, over my hips, commenting ‘you look good, you’ve lost weight’.”
But Gordon Jackson QC, representing Mr Salmond, said: “The reality is somewhat different. Let me
suggest the reality is these events, such as they were, were absolutely nothing. They were not distressing in any way, shape or form.”
Mr Jackson said that in a succession of interviews with police there was not one mention of what the woman said had happened at the event. The woman said she was surprised because she thought she had told the police.
A third woman, an SNP politician, told how Mr Salmond allegedly put his hand on her leg during a journey in his official car.
Woman C said she and her husband were out in Edinburgh in 2011 when they met Mr Salmond. He gave them a
lift, with him and the woman sitting in the back. Her husband sat in the front next to the driver.
Ms C said Mr Salmond put his hand on her leg, above her knee. She added: “I was absolutely gobsmacked. I just froze. I sat there thinking ‘just stop’.”
THURSDAY
Women were stopped from working alone with Alex Salmond in Bute House after an alleged sexual assault, the trial heard. A
‘ I felt like I was hunted. I remember feeling him on top of me. I just did one final push to get him away
complainer, Woman G, told the trial she raised concerns about the alleged incident in 2014 and this led to a change in staffing rules.
The woman, a Scottish Government official who was the fifth complainer to give evidence, said she felt like a “plaything” after she was allegedly smacked on the behind by Mr Salmond in a previous incident in Glasgow.
Woman G said: “Women were not to be alone with Mr Salmond in Bute House and he was not to receive any civil service private support” in the evening “unless there was specific Government business to attend to”.
Gordon Jackson QC, crossexamining the witness, asked why she did not contact police about the alleged incident.
The woman said this was “not an option” because she felt there would be ramifications if the matter became public, including having an impact on the Scottish independence referendum.
Earlier, the court heard Mr Salmond got on top of another woman on a bed, kissed her “sloppily and haphazardly” and murmured she was “irresistible”. He is accused of assaulting the woman at Bute House in late 2013, nine months before the referendum.
The complainer, Woman F, said: “This was a run-up to a referendum on independence. Everything we did outward-facing had potential ramifications.”
Woman F told the court Mr Salmond said the pair should go to his bedroom for work as it was cold. It was heard he then brought out a bottle of a white Chinese spirit and she drank a little. When she got up to leave, she said Mr Salmond told her “firmly” but not “aggressively” to get on the bed.
The complainer said: “The First Minister was lying on top of me, he had his hands under the skirt of my dress and ran them over my thighs and my bottom. He was also running his hands over the bodice of my dress and over my breasts.”
The Scottish Government official, who was the fourth complainer to give evidence at the trial, said Mr Salmond later apologised.
She added: “He said he had been drinking more than usual, not just that night but in general due to stress.”
Mr Jackson put it to the complainer that the incident had been a “sleepy cuddle” and then she got up to leave, which she rejected.
FRIDAY
Mr Salmond impersonated a zombie before sexually assaulting an SNP worker, the jury was told.
The alleged incident is said to have happened one evening at the then-First Minister’s official residence in September 2014 – the month of the Scottish independence referendum.
The party worker, Woman J, said she and Mr Salmond were working together when he asked if she had seen “that zombie movie where they do this”.
Woman J said: “He just took a couple of steps with his arms outstretched.
“He puts his arms on my shoulders and leaned in to kiss me on my cheek and then proceeded to move my shoulders to kiss my other cheek and then leaned in to kiss my lips.”
The court heard she managed to break free from the accused.
Shelagh McCall QC, representing the former SNP leader, put it to the witness that the incident never took place, which she denied.
The woman said she was in “complete shock” after the incident and had felt scared.
Earlier, a former civil servant in the Scottish Government told the court she felt “mortified” and “demeaned” after Mr Salmond grabbed her buttocks while a photograph was being taken.
She said the pair had been posing for a photo at an event at Stirling Castle in November 2014 when Salmond grabbed her “forcibly”.
The woman, Woman K, said she had been shocked but did not want to make a scene. She added: “It felt like I was demeaned, that it was unprofessional, that there was nothing I could do about it.”
The trial continues.