A Montrose woman is pursuing one of Donald Trump’s companies through a Scottish court after she was filmed urinating in sand dunes near his Aberdeenshire golf course last year.
Rohan Beyts is accusing Trump International Golf Clubs Scotland of breaching data protection law by filming her without her permission or notice.
She claims she was filmed by male employees as she urinated while out walking at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire a year ago.
Trump International, which was run by Donald Trump before he became the US president, has denied the claims.
Ms Beyts told the small claims court in Edinburgh that she had gone walking with a friend in April last year and had to pass through the Trump International Golf Club to get access to the beach.
The 62-year-old said that while on the beach she had gone into the dunes after realising that, due to a medical condition, she needed the toilet urgently.
She said she had taken notice of Mountaineering Scotland’s guidelines for what to do if you need to urinate outside, and that she would have been horrified if anyone had seen her.
Three days later police officers arrived at her house to charge her with urinating in a public place that could cause annoyance.
Ms Beyts said she was “shocked” and “upset” and knew she had not done anything wrong.
After speaking to police on a further occasion, she was told three men had mobile phone footage of her urinating.
The court heard that police then visited Ms Beyts at her home at 10pm on April 14 and told her that they had enough evidence to charge her with committing an offence.
The retired social worker said she felt quite upset as she had taken all possible steps to ensure she was not viewed.
She told the court that she later discovered that the complaint against her had been made by Sarah Malone, an Executive Vice President of Trump International, who is based in Scotland.
Ms Beyts was reported to the procurator fiscal, but no action was taken against her.
She in turn launched a claim for damages of £3,000 against Trump International and alleges that the organisation breached the UK’s laws on data protection and privacy.
Lawyers acting for Ms Beyts claim that Trump had failed to register with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.
The lawyers claim that this meant that the employees who filmed her answering the call of nature didn’t have the legal right to carry out such an act.
Lawyers acting for the Trump organisation dispute the claims.
She told the court yesterday that she made no secret of the fact that she was opposed to the building of the golf course at Menie from its first planning stages and that she had a democratic right to object – which she had always done within the law.
The hearing continues.
