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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Julie Dunnett & Alan McEwen

Alex Salmond witness says she didn't know 'what would happen' if she told him to stop touching her

The second female witness has been giving evidence at Alex Salmond's trial at the High Court at Edinburgh today.

The woman, identified as Woman A, told the court that she didn't know how to tell first minster not to touch her.

Salmond faces 14 charges of alleged offences against 10 women, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

Woman A told the trial how Salmond would sometimes kiss her on the lips when he greeted her.

He would move as if going to kiss her cheek then kiss her lips, she said.

She said that would leave her feeling “quite disgusted, embarrassed, humiliated by it”.

Woman A added: “It was very sloppy and unpleasant.”

Woman A said on occasions Salmond would put a hand on her back when they were in close proximity then move his hand to the “side of my chest or on my bum”.

She said this happened “three or four times”.

Woman A added: “No one else did it. There was no need for it.”

Alex Prentice QC, who is representing the Crown, asked why she didn’t tell the first minister to stop.

Woman A replied: “I didn’t know how to tell the first minister not to do that.

“He was the most powerful man in the country and I did not know what would happen if I said, ‘oh get off’.”

Salmond faces 14 charges of alleged offences against 10 women, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

The charges span a period between June 29 2008 and November 11 2014, with one sexual assault said to have taken place in the month of the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014.

Salmond - who was Scotland's first minister from 2007 to 2014 - faces a number of other sexual assault charges, as well as two indecent assault charges.

His trial, which is expected to last for four weeks, continues.

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