A TV star told a jury he had taken action “as a warrior” to protect a woman allegedly raped in Glasgow by an Outlander cast member.
Glenn Gould, who played detective Jerry Commanda on the television series Cardinal, said: “I’m a First Nations man from Canada and our job as men, as warriors, is to protect the women and children in our community.”
Mr Gould, 53, was giving evidence on the fourth day of the trial of fellow Canadian actor Greggory Odjig, who is accused of raping a woman, at the Premier Suites Plus serviced apartments in Glasgow’s Bath Street in May 2021.
The woman earlier told the jury at the High Court in Stirling she had woken after “slipping into a state of unconsciousness” at a suite occupied by Odjig.
The prosecution claims the woman was intoxicated and asleep or unconscious and incapable of giving or withholding consent when Odjig, 47, removed her lower clothing and carried out the act.
She said she woke in a bed, her leggings removed, to the sound of Mr Gould and Odjog arguing and fighting.
Caught in bed claim
Mr Gould, in evidence previously recorded and played to the jury, said he thought the woman 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 okay.
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 the woman and Odjig were both without underwear.
Mr Gould 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 spoke to Odjig in the bedroom and the alleged victim’s young son video-ed 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.
“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 woman and her son, with Mr Gould, then went to a colleague’s suite downstairs, from where police were called.
Accused gives evidence
Odjig gave evidence dressed in a black, with a deer-skin tie and traditional brooch bearing an eagle, which he said represented a messenger from God.
He told his counsel, Donald Findlay KC, 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, where she was sick again.
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?” and he replied: “No, not in that situation.”
Asked if he had “any sexual contact with that young woman that night at all”, he replied: “Definitely not.”
He said there had been “spooning” and said he had put his hand in the waistband of the woman’s leggings.
Asked why, he replied, “Comfort, snug.”
He said the alleged victim’s DNA may have been on his penis having transferred from his hands when he was going to the toilet.
He said it was not true the woman was unconscious when in bed with him and a claim that she had nothing on her bottom half was “lies”.
Slipped into unconsciousness
The trial heard last week how the alleged victim had been friends with Odjig for years.
At Odjig’s apartment, they spent time drinking and chatting.
She said she had a glass-and-a-half of Cava she had bought and fell unconscious.
She told the trial on Friday: “I poured the first glass and Gregg poured the second glass and after the second glass I slipped into a state of unconsciousness.
“He was adamant he was pouring my drink.
“I got halfway through the glass.
“My eyesight went and my head banged off the table and I was slipping into unconsciousness and didn’t know what was happening.”
She told police in a statement it could have been a bottle of Cava she had drunk.
Acquitted of assault charge
Odjig – who played the role of Satehoronies in Outlander’s fourth season – denies raping the woman.
An allegation he hit her has been dropped by the prosecution and he was formally acquitted of assault.
The trial, before judge Lady Poole continues.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.
