Taking the President to court, gran caught short on his resort
Rohan, 62, ‘shocked’ at being filmed
A GRANDMOTHER has told a court she was ‘shocked’ to find she had been filmed urinating on Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf course.
Rohan Beyts, 62, is making a damages claim against Trump International Golf Course Scotland – which is fully owned by the US President – alleging staff breached data protection laws by recording her.
On the first day of the hearing, the long-term campaigner against the Trump International Golf Links near Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, said yesterday the incident had left her ‘slightly paranoid’ about urinating out of doors.
She described at Edinburgh Sheriff Court how police came to her home three days after she answered the call of nature at the resort on April 11, 2016.
She told Sheriff Donald Corke she met fellow campaigner Sue Edwards for a walk at the course, having decided to accompany her for ‘safety reasons’ after staff had photographed her friend on a previous walk.
Miss Beyts, a retired social worker, said she was being treated for urinary incontinence at the time and, after jumping over a burn, ‘needed urgently to go to the toilet’.
She said: ‘I couldn’t see anybody, I was convinced of that. I’m not in the habit of urinating when there is anybody in view. I would be horrified. I just squatted down in the dunes.’
She told the court as they continued their walk a vehicle drew up and a man she later discovered was photographer Colin Rennie got out and began taking photos.
Miss Beyts said the course manager was there and she and her friend were asked their opinion of the course in a ‘polite’ exchange – and answered it was ‘in the wrong place’ before heading on. But three days later two police officers visited her home in Montrose, Angus, at 10pm and arrested her for public urination. The procurator fiscal later decided no action would be taken.
Miss Beyts said: ‘I couldn’t believe this was happening. I was shocked – not because of the criminal charge but because of the police coming to my door for what was quite a trivial incident. I hadn’t done anything wrong in my book. I had done what I always did when I was out and needed the toilet.’
She assumed she had been caught on CCTV but was later told by police three men – two staff and a visitor – had filmed her on mobile phones.
‘I felt really quite upset because I’d taken all possible steps to ensure I wasn’t viewed,’ said Miss Beyts. She told the court she later discovered the complaint against her had been made by Sarah Malone, an executive vice president of Trump International based in Scotland.
Later in the small claims court hearing, Miss Beyts told Paul Motion, who is acting for Trump International, that she had received messages of support from golfers who had also answered the call of nature on the course.
She said: ‘I feel being filmed secretly is a bullying act.’
Edward Irvine, 23, a resort irrigation technician, told the court he took a photograph of Miss Beyts urinating with his mobile phone because she was committing an offence by urinating in public.
Lawyers for Trump International dispute Miss Beyt’s claims that it breached UK laws on data protection and privacy.
The hearing continues.
‘I couldn’t believe this was happening’