Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Man left ‘trembling’ after alleged sexual assault by Aberdeen’s former depute provost

The case was heard at Aberdeen Sheriff Court
The case was heard at Aberdeen Sheriff Court

A man was left “trembling” after allegedly being sexually assaulted by a former depute provost, a trial has heard.

Tory councillor Alan Donnelly, 65, is on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court charged with sexual assault over an alleged incident at an event in the city centre in November last year.

Donnelly, of Deemount Gardens, Aberdeen, is accused of sexually assaulting the man by touching his face, hair and body and kissing him on the face.

He denies the charge against him.

Yesterday evidence was given by a woman who was also at the event and who the man told about the incident.

Depute fiscal Lynne MacVicar asked the witness how the man seemed when telling her about what allegedly happened.

She replied: “He was trembling. He was shaking.”

Ms MacVicar went on to ask the witness about how much Donnelly had had to drink that evening. She said: “Six or seven glasses of wine.”

Defence agent David Sutherland put it to the woman that the man had actually spoken to her about the allegations the following weekend and not when she had said it happened.

She replied: “No. It’s not true.”


Keep up to date with the latest news with The Evening Express newsletter


Evidence was also given on the second day of the trial by a man who said he witnessed Donnelly speaking with the alleged victim.

Ms MacVicar asked him if there was any physical contact between them.

He replied: “I saw Mr Donnelly give the man a kiss on the cheek.”

Asked how sure he was about that, he said he was “100% sure”.

Ms MacVicar asked: “Was there any reaction from the man?”

The witness said: “None.”

Mr Sutherland suggested to the witness there was in fact “no conversation between Mr Donnelly and the man that night whatsoever” and he replied: “That’s incorrect.”

A second woman also gave evidence at the trial and said she had seen Donnelly and the man together at the event.

She said she saw Donnelly “had his hand on his waist and his other hand on his cheek”.

She added: “It wasn’t like a grip. It was just like a touch.”

The witness said the interaction lasted for “seconds”.

Ms MacVicar asked the witness if the complainer had reacted in any way.

She replied: “No. He was just standing there.”

The witness said she spoke to the man about the incident and, asked how he seemed, said he was “laughing at the whole situation at first”.

Mr Sutherland suggested to the witness that there was “no physical contact”.

She replied: “I’m 100% sure.”

The trial, before Sheriff Ian Wallace, is set to continue in December.

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.