Alex Salmond: Accuser says she felt 'hunted' by former first minister before alleged sexual assault
NewsColony
One of Alex Salmond’s accusers has claimed she felt “hunted” by the former Scottish first minister before an alleged attempted rape at his official residence in 2014, a court heard.
Mr Salmond, who faces 14 charges brought forward by 10 women, attended Edinburgh’s high court on Monday for the first day of an expected four-week trial over sexual assault allegations.
The former SNP leader denies all of the charges, which span a period between 29 June 2008 and 11 November 2014, with one alleged sexual assault said to have taken place in the month of the Scottish independence referendum.
The first woman to appear before the court to give evidence of two alleged incidents has claimed Mr Salmond pounced on her at Bute House, the official home of the first minister while in office.
The woman, who like all of Mr Salmond’s accusers cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed the incident took place after a dinner at the premises in June 2014.
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“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”, she told the jury.
“I was talking to him the whole time, trying to explain why this wasn’t OK.
“It wasn’t getting through, he thought it was funny, he was trying to make banter of it.”
She went on to tell the court Mr Salmond blocked her path when she attempted to leave, and alleged he began to grope and kiss her.
She added: “At this point, I started to feel scared. I can only really describe the next set of events as feeling you were in the ring, like Muhammad Ali and Foreman.
“It was constant, it wouldn’t stop.”
The court heard Mr Salmond continued to urge her to stay overnight — which she agreed to on the condition they stayed in separate rooms, an idea she described as “a bit of an escape plan”.
However when she entered her room she claimed Mr Salmond followed her with a bottle of wine. She alleged he “pounced” on her, stripped himself naked, took off her clothes and pushed her onto the bed before climbing on top of her.
”I felt like I was hunted. I remember feeling him on top of me. He was aroused, his private parts on top of me,” she said.
“I just did one final push to get him away and managed to get him on the other side of the bed. He kept saying to me he will be a great lover.
“I think he was a bit drunk — he could be quite or a lot drunk, it was hard to know.
“He was muttering how I was being stupid and then he passed out and started snoring.”
Mr Salmond’s accuser said she had not given any indication she would welcome such contact.
“Why would I want to go out with him? He’s a much older man who didn’t look after himself”, she added.
In a separate incident in Bute House the month prior, the same woman claimed to have been sexually assaulted after staying late to work.
She told the court she had been working alongside Mr Salmond when they began doing shots of a Chinese white spirit, which she described as an unusual incident.
Describing Mr Salmond as being “half cut” and in a “good mood”, the accuser alleged he went to sit on the floor and asked her to sit beside him.
The court heard he then proceeded to grope the woman until she managed to make her excuses and leave.
She said: “He was putting his hand down my top and kissing my face and neck and touching my legs. He was laughing.” Mr Salmond has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
His lawyer Gordon Jackson QC lodged a special defence of alibi for the alleged incident in May 2014, when Mr Salmond’s defence team claim he was often absent from Bute House in the evenings due to a busy schedule.
Consent was also given as a defence for three alleged sexual assaults and an alleged indecent assault against three women.
The trial continues.
Source: The Independent UK | NewsColony
The post Alex Salmond: Accuser says she felt 'hunted' by former first minister before alleged sexual assault appeared first on NewsColony.
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