Friday, November 19, 2010

Keith Baldassara's testimony.



The last witness of today was Keith Baldassara. Mr Baldassara  told the court he had known Tommy Sheridan since 1984 and had worked closely with him as his election agent from 1992 to 2003 and as his parliamentary caseworker from 1999 to 2006. The witness also told the court he was one of three best men at Tommy Sheridan's wedding, along with Andrew McFarlane and George McNeilage. The Advocate Depute, Alex Prentice QC, asked Mr Baldassara if he had been present at the 9th November 2004 Scottish Socialist Party executive meeting and what had occured. The witness said he had been at the meeting and that Tommy Sheridan had admitted he had been present at Cupids ( a "sex club in Manchester) on two occasions. Mr Baldassara said he was in "no doubt" that was what was said.


Mr Prentice then asked the witness if he was "surprised" at this admission, to which Mr Baldassara said he was not. The witness told the court that he had discussed this issue on a "number of occasions" with Tommy Sheridan, including at a meeting between the two at Glasgow city Chambers in 2001. Mr Baldassara also told the court of another incident in which he had been in a car when Mr Sheridan had raised the possibility of the story about "the sex club coming out in the press" Mr Baldassara told the court this led to a "furious row" between them with the witness telling Tommy Sheridan this could "put all our gains at risk" to which Mr Sheridan had responded that "nobody could prove it."

Mr Prentice then asked about a wedding reception held for Tommy Sheridan's brother in law Andrew McFarlane. Mr Baldassara was asked if he met a Matthew McColl there which he confirmed he had, and that Mr McColl was known as "hadjie." Mr Baldassara told the court that Tommy Sheridan had introduced him as "this is the guy who walks out of a strip show" Mr Baldassara met Tommy Sheridan a week or so later and told him that "it had come to his attention" that Mr Sheridan had went a "sex party" in a hotel, described by the witness as "a night of madness" involving "group sex" and a woman being "flown in." Mr Baldassara told the court that Mr Sheridan had told him the event had been organised by "hadjie" and he had "attended but not particpated." 


The Advocate Depute then returned to the 9th November executive committee and had Mr Baldassara confirm that a minute presented to him was, in his view, an accurate account of this  meeting. Mr Prentice then ended his evidence and chief and the court adjourned for lunch.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Matthew McColl. Not McGill.

James Doleman said...

Thanks anon, fixed now.

Anonymous said...

I may be being ignorant, but what's a 'hadjie'? Was it maybe the Scots word gadgie?

Anonymous said...

it's Hagi, after the romanian footballer I think

James Doleman said...

I'm happy to be corrected on the spelling, I only heard the name I've not seen it written down.

Whatsy said...

I thought an interesting exchange during this testimony was when KB was recounting the wedding reception, he mentioned that TS usually introduced him along the lines of "Keith is the guy that does all the work behind the scenes so that I can take all the glory", but this time introduced him as "the guy that walks out of a strip show".

I was quite disappointed from the prurient observer point of view (I know, I am ashamed) that Bracadale interjected to query the relevance of this, just as KB was about to go into it all further, although it probably helped keep things moving along swiftly and smoothly.

Peter said...

Very good bit like Blankety Blank:

"this is the guy who walks out a strip show when ....BLANKETY BLANK"

I have a 5 letter and 4 letter name in mind.

Christian Schmidt said...

>Mr Baldassara was asked if he met a Matthew McColl there which he confirmed he had, and that Mr McGill was known as "hadjie."

McCall, McGill, Hadjie, Gadgie, Hagi, all one person?

Hajji said...

Hajji is sometimes slang for a religious person who has contempt for western corruption. From Islamic Haj ( going on the Haj is a trip to Mecca that all muslims must do if they are fit and able - once in their lifetime).
Also used by US Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq for all non western people.

Chekov said...

Gadgie is an East Coast work for "bloke" in reality it is a Romany word for a non-gypsy, but west coasters don't use this term. I would be surprised if it was Gadgie.

I think the issue that Sheridan allegedly introduced Keith in this way is very relevant .......... sounds to me like code "don't talk about anything dodgy in front of Keith"

Jessica Fletcher P.I. said...

Peter said...
Christian Schmidt said...
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Anonymous said...

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Magnum P.I. said...

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