Alex Salmond trial: Alleged sex assault victim ‘had flashbacks after Harvey Weinstein case’

A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Alex Salmond has told a court she had “flashbacks” after the Me Too movement in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

The former Scottish government official, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has claimed she was assaulted twice by the country’s former first minister at his official residence Bute House in 2014.

Salmond is standing trial at Edinburgh’s High Court charged with 14 sexual offences against 10 women, all of which he denies.

The former SNP leader is accused of two offences against the first witness; sexual assault and attempted rape.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the woman said she did not tell anyone about the alleged assaults at the time because Salmond “was a very powerful man and I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of him”.

But she told the jury she started getting “flashbacks” in October or November 2017 after allegations came to light about disgraced movie producer Weinstein.

The court heard the woman sent a text to an SNP employee in November 2017 asking if she could discuss an allegation confidentially.

“I wanted to know if there was a process in the party which was secure,” she told the court.

“I was trying to figure out what the party was putting in place in the context of Me Too and what happened to me.

“I kept it top line. I didn’t go into explicit detail. I explained details had occurred and I wanted to make sure it was on the record in the party.”

The woman told the court she wanted her allegations against Salmond to be put on record in case he sought office again as an ex-parliamentarian.

The court heard she sent a message after seeing media reports about other allegations against Salmond, in which she said she felt “almost relieved that it wasn’t just me”.

The jury also heard the alleged victim had said she hoped other women came forward and added: “I guess that’s what Me Too is all about.”

Under cross examination by Salmond’s barrister Shelagh McCall QC, the woman said that no-one was “cheerleading” her to give evidence and she had decided to speak to the police on her own.

“I’ve done this off my own back,” she told the court.

“I think you know how hard this is. This is not fun. I would rather not be here.

“I don’t feel like I was encouraged. I feel like I came to this decision on my own.”

The woman told the court she had felt “traumatised” talking about the alleged assaults because she was “scared of Alex”.

She said she was “bricking it” when she did report allegations against him but she “felt a lot more confident about the process”.

The court was shown a text message exchange between the woman and another complainant in the case.

In the exchange, the second woman said she was “mulling over the AS stuff”, to which the witness replied: “I’m mulling too. But I have a plan. And means we can be anonymous but see strong repercussions.”

Earlier the witness told the court she declined to attend an event with Salmond the day after he allegedly assaulted her at Bute House in June 2014.

“I didn’t want to go,” she told the court.

“I felt like I was going to throw up. I didn’t want to be around him.”

The jury was shown an email sent by the woman to her colleagues telling them she could not attend the event the day after Salmond’s alleged assault.

In the email, she said could not come to the event because her arm was “killing” after recently breaking it.

She told the court that after sending the email she received a phone call from Salmond who tried to persuade her to change her mind.

“He seemed quite perky,” she told the jury.

“He was in the company of a member of staff so I didn’t take the opportunity to discuss what happened the night before.”

She added: “I was in trauma from the night before.”

Salmond – who was Scotland’s first minister from 2007 to 2014 – denies 14 charges covering a period between June 2008 and November 2014.

They include one of attempted rape, 11 of sexual assault – including one with intent to rape – and two of indecent assault.

The trial before judge Lady Dorrian continues.

(c) Sky News 2020: Alex Salmond trial: Alleged sex assault victim ‘had flashbacks after Harvey Weinstein case’