Dear All
Today, the political focus is on one event,
although there are others taking place, Former SNP Minister Alex Salmond has
appeared in court over a series of alleged sex crimes against ten
women. In the past, the impression given by the SNP was of two complaints, now
more details are emerging. Although Alex Salmond didn’t enter a plea, the
former Labour MSP, Gordon Jackson QC representing him said he would be pleading
not guilty.
Alex Salmond didn’t speak during the 15
minute hearing before Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk.
The trial has been fixed by Lady Dorrian for
March 9 2020, which is expected to last 4 weeks, so what is Salmond accused of
with these ten women?
According to the indictment, the charges
against Mr Salmond are:
The indecent assault “on various occasions”
of a woman in 2008 in Glasgow and the sexual assault of the same woman in an
Edinburgh nightclub in 2010 or 2011
The indecent assault of a second woman in
Bute House in late 2010
The sexual assault of a third woman in a
motor vehicle in Edinburgh in February 2011
The sexual assault of a fourth woman on
“various occasions” between 2011 and 2013 in Bute House, the Scottish
Parliament and elsewhere
The sexual assault of a fifth woman in Bute
House in October 2013 by attempting to kiss her foot
The sexual assault of a sixth woman at Bute
House in late 2013 and then the sexual assault of the same woman “with
intent to rape” on a different occasion at Bute House in late 2013
The sexual assault of a seventh woman at a Glasgow
restaurant in March 2012 and the sexual assault of the same woman at Bute House
in April 2014
The sexual assault of an eighth woman at
Bute House in May 2014 and then the attempted rape of the same woman at Bute
House in June the same year
The sexual assault of a ninth woman at Bute
House in September 2014
The sexual assault of a tenth woman at
Stirling Castle in November 2014
Salmond was charged originally with
slightly different group offences when he appeared during a brief private
hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on January 24. Then the charges included two
charges of attempted rape, nine of sexual assault, two of indecent assault and
one breach of the peace. The Crown has decided to adjust the charges in the
hope of winning this case. Like many people, I have met Alex Salmond, my first
chat with him was in a trailer, in the kitchen where I was getting a bite to
eat after finishing campaigning. The election was the 2008 Glasgow East
by-election, he came in, sat down and we started chatting away. He was very
chatty, speaking of his time in politics, the campaign in the East and other
things of general chitchat. The world has moved on since 2008 for him, no
longer First Minister, no longer in politics and working on a show for the RT
Channel.
I would at other elections and by-elections
meet him, and he always made a point of saying hello, which surprised me, but
it appears he has a good memory for activists. I find it is hard to wrap my
head round these allegations against him, and I am so anti SNP. Just like in
elections and in court, the outcome is never certain; the task if this goes
before a jury is not one that I would relish.
The persona of Alex Salmond will overshadow
this trial.
Interestingly, Nicola Sturgeon would was
effectively jointed at the hip with Alex Salmond says she wants to see 'justice
done'.
She said:
“The only thing I would say, as First
Minister, and as an ordinary citizen, is that my only interest is in seeing
justice done, whatever that may be, but that of course is a matter for the
courts with all due process.”
Nicola Sturgeon when asked declined to say
whether she had been cited as a witness, she knows the defendant but I wonder
just how many of the accusers she knows, and how close they are from her.
Sturgeon added:
“There will come a point where you will
have questions and I will be very willing and very keen to answer all of those
questions, but that time for reasons you understand is not now.”
“Very willing and very keen”?
If Nicola Sturgeon made that statement to me, I
would wonder how far back her alleged knowledge goes, in my mind, someone who is “very
willing and very keen” is someone I would want questioned under oath.
Wouldn’t you?
Especially when you remember Nicola Sturgeon's mantra of 'I know nothing about nothing'.
In his statement to the press outside, Alex
Salmond repeated he was innocent, he didn’t look subdued, nor did he look
worried, of course he has had media training on how to present himself in front
of the cameras. This going to be a big event in 2020, how damaging it will be
for those involved will be played out in court and reported by the press and
other media. With Nicola Sturgeon not getting any referendums in 2020, the huge
spotlight will be shining on the SNP.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
3 comments:
I’m watching my words. I don’t know about the rest of youes but this all looks very odd to me. I find so called offences against 10 women unusual to say the least.
I’ve precisely zero time for Salmond but, Spanish-style, would rather see him arraigned on charges of Sedition(*) than what will likely prove to be more #MeToo nonsense. ‘Sexual assault’ sounds serious but read what Salmond is accused of: ‘touching her arms and hips … seizing her by the wrists and … attempting to kiss her … touching her leg … attempting to kiss her foot … kissing her on the mouth … placing his arm around her … touching her leg and face’. Oh, come on! Boorish behaviour certainly, but does any of it require police involvement and a trial? Whatever happened to a woman dealing with unwanted attention by giving a creep a good slap?
Any randomly selected Victorian woman had more gumption and fortitude in her little finger than the combined bodies of every feminist since 1945.
And after all the false accusations(†) (and feminists’ attitudes to false allegations(‡)), I cannot now accept a woman’s word on anything without serious evidence backing it up. (And for those tempted to think that Islam has it right requiring four witnesses, as I’ve seen some comment on social media—that won’t save you, even it were true.)
False accusations do not just lead to innocent men’s lives ruined but sometimes lost as well, committing
suicide (note the suicide leading to a second, so often do tragedies spiral outwards far from the initial victims) or being brutally beaten to death; and they lead to genuine victims being disbelieved.
(* Foolishly abolished in E&W and NI by Coroners and Justice Act 2009 s.73 and in Scotland by Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 s.51; not that the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919’s s.3 remaining law sees us prosecuting the Aussie Brains or German Westens.)
(† E.g. Kanin, E.J. (1994) False rape allegations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 23(1), 81–92. (Archive)
Walker, Francis. (2015) How To Lie And Mislead With Rape Statistics: Part 1 & Part 2. Data Gone Odd.)
(‡ Teen Vogue columnist Emily Lindin: ‘I'm actually not at all concerned about innocent men losing their jobs over false sexual assault/harassment allegations.’
Perfect storm for the SNP soon, given the car crash interview by Jeanette Freeman this morning.
And relating to this topic, the owner of a certain indy blog publicly stated in a post fairly recently that they had been in contact with a significant political figure.
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