Alex Salmond...

[justasking111]

He has now been arrested and charged. Not released the reason why yet.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-46984747

He is going to have to have nerves of steel to brazen this one out. How can you say all the accusers are lying or colluding. Unless there is the mother of all conspiracies going on. It's more than a bit of misunderstanding I think. I am really shocked

innocent until proven guilty but it doesn't look good. Or not proven in Scotland, there's 3 outcomes. Guilty , not guilty, not proven which is how many rape cases end up I assume since without witnesses, injuries or DNA evidence it's a difficult charge to prove.

Can anyone explain the difference between an indecent assault and a sexual assault please

Indecent assault is unwanted touching of someone's body, breasts, genitals etc, sexual assault is unwanted sexual acts against someone's will, and can also be known as sexual abuse, rape is clearly the next step up and when it involves penetration with a penis.

member The difference is purely dates. Indecent assault has been replaced by sexual assault under the Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009. The same offences but several years apart will be tried under separate sections.

I don’t like AS or SNP, but I’m shocked he’d be so stupid to do anything that would remotely tarnish him or the SNP. He is a very clever and astute man and would’ve thought he’d have known better if he were to behave in the way it is alleged.

My mind did turn to conspiracy theories when I heard this news today and while I’m probably wildly off, I do wonder...

However, I also firmly believe that women should be believed and that it is monumentally brave to stand up and report, so I believe them and they should have justice.

Crystal, I detest AS with a passion [understatement], but would have thought he'd be far too wily a politician to get himself in a position where he could be accused of sexual assault - maybe hubris is the answer.

That makes sense NickyNacky, I was trying to differentiate it along the lines Bluntness laid out but unwanted touching is sexual.

It’s purely dates. If it predates SOSA 2009 it will be indecent assaault

Everything is under the same section of the 2009 act, so I'm afraid it's not timing. It's the scale of the offences, from touching to sexual acts ie oral sex to attempted penetration.

I hate that this case will be muddied with conspiracy theories / anti Independence bias / unbalanced jury etc. 14 charges?! It's difficult to see that these are all invented/false. I hope he gets what he deserves.

Why just ‘women must be believed’? Why shouldn’t men who have been assaulted/abused/raped be believed too? And if you’re going to go down that road why shouldn’t the accused be believed too?

This ‘believe the victim’ crap is nonsense especially when the people concerned are strangers. How the hell do you know who is telling the truth? People do lie about this stuff.

Take everything seriously by all means and investigate thoroughly but people have short memories. It’s barely a year since several young men inquick succession escaped goingvto jail because of lies and police unwillingness/inability to investigate properly.

I’m no cybernat but I’m gutted that this may cause ructions in the SNP when they need to be keeping their shit together to get through the next few months and beyond.

Shouldn’t he be out of court now??? (I’m so nosey)

I’m meaning of course the news of his arrest causing ructions in the party, not the fact he was arrested. Not going to speculate on what the offence could be but regardless it should be taken seriously.

Megs, I think in Scotland at the moment, current political climate and all, it must have taken a huge amount of bravery for any woman to make such accusations against Salmond.

@Mumberjack RTFT and you will see he was out of court hours ago and his list of very serious charges has been released.

Sorry to be a pedant but the CPS doesn't exist in Scotland, it's the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal.

He won't be found guilty. DP was a juror on a rape case and there was tons of evidence, police reports, hospital reports, mobile phone records, thousands of text messages etc. The jury wanted to go for not guilty, DP managed to swing it to not proven. Guy walks free.

Given that these are historical claims I can't see it going anywhere in court, juries basically want crimes like this to be recorded on video before they'll convict.

Twitter is now a cybernat cesspit of course. It's depressing.

Maybe raglan, but we still are supposed to have an ‘innocent until proven guilty’ system. And FWIW I know of someone who recently was found Not Guilty of 22 very serious charges up to and including rape. The numbers mean little at this point, but the prevailing attitude isn’t right or helpful.

If he deserves an acquittal, that’s what he should get and none of us should be reading anything into anything. The man is ruined no matter what and that’s not right.

Megs4x3 You are coming accross as if you think the woman/women should have just kept quiet due to who he is.

bluntness I’m afraid you are incorrect. Scotland’s sexual offences are different to England and I investigate recent and historical offences and report them frequently to the procurator fiscal.

SillySally that’s not at all what I mean. I am meaning that the assumptions that so many have made that he MUST be guilty are not right or helpful, and happen far too often when matters such as this hit the press.

@sillysallysongssongs just out of work so about to read up

Maybe we should refrain from comment until the case is heard, other than in the interests of justice for both accused and those alleging the crimes, that it is not a long wait.

Couldn’t agree more ForalltheSaints. And I know I’m guilty of posting here, so I’ll zip my lip now. :-)

I'm a bit surprised that people seem to be suggesting that someone in his position wouldn't have committed those crimes.

I'm not about to convict AS single handedly without a fair trial, but has the whole metoo thing gone over people's heads?

Some Powerful men sexually assault and rape women because they can