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		</div><p>A former Scottish Government official who has accused Alex Salmond of sexual assault said she was “too scared” to call for help at Bute House.</p>
<p>The former first minister of Scotland is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh over accusations of sexual assault.</p>
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<p>The woman, who is the first to give evidence, has spoken about two alleged incidents, including one charge that the 65-year-old tried to rape her in June 2014.</p>
<p>Shelagh McCall QC, representing Salmond, asked on Tuesday why the woman had not called for a security guard to help that night.</p>
<p>The prosecution witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “I really wish that I had. I was scared, I was embarrassed and humiliated.</p>
<p>“Looking back I wish I had screamed, I wish I had physically reacted but I just turned to stone.”</p>
<p>Ms McCall QC had earlier asked whether the woman had been encouraged by others to speak to Police Scotland after reports emerged in August 2018 that Salmond was being investigated.</p>
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<p>The court heard the woman had been in contact with a number of people before talking to police.</p>
<p>She said: “There’s no-one cheerleading me to do this. This isn’t fun, I would rather not be here.</p>
<p>“I don’t feel like I have been encouraged, I feel I have made this decision on my own.”</p>
<p>It was also heard the witness had been in contact with someone in 2015 about a personal political project in which she said she would work with Salmond again, around a year after the alleged sexual assaults were said to take place.</p>
<p>The court heard the witness, known as Woman H, had been in contact with another complainer in the case, known as Woman J.</p>
<p>Text messages apparently sent between the two were shown ​in court.</p>
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<p>The messages were said to have been exchanged after the allegations about Salmond surfaced in newspapers and discussed the “AS stuff”.</p>
<p>An apparent text from Woman H to Woman J shown in court said: “I have a plan. And means we can be anonymous but see strong repercussions.”</p>
<p>Woman H said the repercussions were to do with the party and police taking action.</p>
<p>The witness earlier told the court she began to suffer flashbacks after the Harvey Weinstein scandal emerged.</p>
<p>She said: “I had started to learn about (the MeToo movement), yes. It was just around that time.</p>
<p>“It was on the back of the Harvey Weinstein case.</p>
<p>“These issues started to be discussed and I started to have what I could describe as flashbacks.”</p>
<p>The woman previously told the court on Monday that she felt “hunted” by Salmond moments before an alleged attempted rape in Bute House.</p>
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<p>Evidence was also given about an alleged sexual assault in Bute House beforehand in May 2014.</p>
<p>Salmond faces 14 charges of alleged offences against 10 women, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The trial, before judge Lady Dorrian, continues.</p>
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