During his testimony today, a television actor stated that he had acted in a protective manner ‘as a warrior’ in order to safeguard a woman who was allegedly assaulted in a Glasgow aparthotel by a fellow cast member from the show Outlander.
The actor, Glenn Gould, famous for his role as detective Jerry Commanda in the TV series Cardinal, emphasized the cultural aspect of his actions, declaring, ‘I come from the First Nations in Canada, and our duty as men, as warriors, is to defend the women and children within our community.’
At 53 years old, Mr. Gould recounted these events as he testified on the fourth day of the trial involving another indigenous Canadian actor, Greggory Odjig, who is facing accusations of sexually assaulting a 34-year-old actress at the Premier Suites Plus serviced apartments located on Bath Street in Glasgow in May 2021.
The woman earlier told the jury that she had woken up to find her leggings in a suitcase after ‘slipping into a state of unconsciousness’ at a suite occupied by Odjig.
The prosecution claims that the woman was intoxicated and asleep or unconscious and so incapable of giving or withholding consent when Odjig, 47, removed her lower clothing and carried out the act.
The woman, from Perthshire, said Odjig had been a friend of hers for four years.
She told the High Court in Stirling that she had gone to his suite after a day out in Edinburgh with her son and her sister and a group of actors and make-up artists who were filming in Scotland.
In a supermarket near the aparthotel, they bumped into Mr Gould and Odjig invited Mr Gould up to his two-bedroomed apartment to have a chat with them all.
The woman told prosecutor Kath Harper KC that she later fell unconscious after drinking sparkling wine.
Glenn Gould, (pictured) who played detective Jerry Commanda on the TV series Cardinal, said he had to take action ‘as a warrior’ to protect a woman who was allegedly raped by Odjig
Greggory Odjig, has been accused of raping a 34-year-old actress at the Premier Suites Plus serviced apartments in Glasgow’s Bath Street in May 2021
She said Odjig helped her into a bed and she slipped into a state of unconsciousness.
She said she later woke up hearing shouting and screaming. Odjig and Mr Gould were both in the room, having an argument. Her pants were on but a pair of gym leggings she had been wearing were in a suitcase.
Mr Gould, in evidence previously recorded and played to the jury, said he thought she had ‘got into the second bottle’ of sparkling wine when she passed out suddenly and was then sick.
He said he later thought that things had gone ‘a little too quiet’ so he went to make sure everything was OK.
He tapped on Odjig’s bedroom door and looked in.
He said: ‘He was under the blankets, basically spooning her.
‘He had his arms under the blankets and he was touching her. His arm was over her waist.’
He got the woman’s sister, who asked Odjig what he was doing.
Mr Gould said: ‘I believe his response was, ‘we were just about to have some playtime’.’
Someone else pulled the covers off and said that the victim and Odjig both had no underwear on.
Greggory Odjig played Satehoronies in series four of Outlander – he is pictured here in blue
The actor said he told Odjig, ‘Smarten up, what the hell’s wrong with you, you’ve got to learn to have respect for women.’
Mr Gould said everything became ‘kind of chaotic’ after he had spoken to Odjig in the bedroom, and the victim’s young son videod what was happening on a phone.
He said: ‘Gregg was yelling at him and it looked like he was going to attack the boy.
‘Gregg tried to swing at me a couple of times.’
Ms Harper, the prosecutor, asked: ‘How did that come to an end?’
Mr Gould replied: ‘I hit him. I hit him with a couple of upper cuts and I pinned him to the floor face down and I said ‘You’re done – you’re done Gregg’.
‘I said to the girls to get themselves to safety and get the little boy to safety – it’s not safe in here.’
The victim, her son and her sister, together with Mr Gould, then went to a colleague’s suite downstairs, from where police were called.
Odjig gave evidence dressed in a black shirt, black jacket and jeans together with a deer-skin tie and a traditional brooch bearing an eagle, which he said represented a messenger from God.
He told his counsel, Donald Findlay KC, that he had been in Scotland with crew and cast, including Mr Gould, filming for Outlander.
He said Mr Gould had been ‘drunk’ on the night in question.
The alleged victim had begun to ‘convulse’ and needed to be sick and he went to the bathroom with her where she vomited before she suggested it was ‘lay time’.
They then went into his bedroom were she was sick in a garbage basket at the side of the bed.
He said she asked him to stay with her, so he got into bed and lay down beside her.
Mr Findlay asked: ‘Were you hoping there might be a progression to some romantic attention?’
Odjig replied, ‘No, not in that situation.’
Mr Findlay asked: ‘Did you have any sexual contact with that young woman that night at all?’
Odjig replied, ‘Definitely not.’ He said there had been ‘spooning’ and said he had put his hand in the waistband of the woman’s leggings.
Actor Glen Gould pictured as Chief Bird in the TV series Outlander
Asked why, he replied, ‘Comfort, snug.’
He agreed with Mr Findlay that he had not wanted to be filmed in bed with the woman because ‘he believed it would have been bad publicity for a video to be posted of a cast member of Outlander in bed with a fan’.
Asked how it might be that the victim’s DNA came to be found on his private member, he suggested it might have transferred from his hands when he was going to the toilet.
He said it was not true that the woman was unconscious when in bed with him, and a claim that she had nothing on her bottom half was ‘lies’.
An allegation that Odjig had also hit the woman has been dropped by the prosecution and he was formally acquitted of that alleged assault.
Odjig – who played the role of Satehoronies in Outlander’s fourth season – denies raping the woman.
The trial, before Lady Poole, will continue tomorrow with closing speeches from prosecution and defence.
