River City actor Iain Robertson ‘left woman cowering in fear after dragging her by hair’, court told

Actor Iain Robertson was “emotionally controlling and manipulative”, a woman told a court.

The former River City star, who is also accused of violence against women, allegedly behaved “in a threatening or abusive manner” on multiple occasions between December 2013 and July 2015.

The 45-year-old man is also accused of assaulting her twice in 2014.

He is also accused of raping another woman “on various occasions” between 2018 and 2019, as well as crimes involving two other women.

Robertson denies a total of eight charges brought against him over a 16-year period between 2004 and 2020.

One of the women, who gave evidence at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday, said she met Robertson in 2012 or 2013, when she was nearing the end of drama school.

Addressing the hearing via video link, the 40-year-old said Robertson was initially “quite attractive” but his behavior soon changed.

“His behavior has become quite controlling, emotionally controlling and manipulative,” she said.

“Over time, this situation will escalate and first threats of physical violence will appear, and then physical violence.”

He said he tried to “separate himself” from people he was close to, including his friends and mother, and “picked an argument” when he had to meet them.

She also described him as a “violent alcoholic” and said he drank “a lot” throughout their relationship and was “in and out” of Alcoholics Anonymous.

She said if he had been around her when she was drunk, he would have spoken to her in an “aggressive, disrespectful” way and made her feel “terrible.”

She said: “He would call me a bitch and just be degrading.”

When asked to describe his tone of voice, he said: “Hard as poison is the best adjective I can think of to describe it.

“It’s almost like you’re spitting out the words.”

He said in 2013 the pair went on holiday to a cottage in north-east Scotland and Robertson “drank heavily the entire journey”.

He told an incident while going to a touristic spot during the trip.

“He was driving, we were somewhere in the car and he started yelling at me,” he said.

“I think he overstepped directions, swerved and threw the car around.”

He said he was “really scared” because he was “stranded” in his car with her.

“It was really clear to me that I was in a dangerous situation with this person, both in the car and in the relationship more broadly.”

He also described an argument in September 2014 in which Robertson became “threatening” and “aggressive”.

He told the court: “I was scared and something happened where I was cowering because I thought he was going to hit me.

“When he saw this, he said, ‘If you think I’m going to hit you, I will’ and attacked me.

“I fell on the bed and put my hands and arms above my head.”

He told the court he then left the room but although he was “very scared” he didn’t know how to get out of his flat so he pretended to be asleep.

He also described an incident in December 2014 in which he said the two argued and he “fell to the ground.”

She told the court: “He dragged me from the bedroom into the corridor by my hair.

“I was trying to stop him, I was trying to grab onto anything to stop him.”

When he let go, she said, he stood up and told her, “We’re done, it’s over.”

The woman said she broke off the relationship in early 2015 after he reacted badly to a night out with new colleagues, and Robertson subsequently sent her an “obsessive amount” of phone calls, texts and later emails.

Robertson’s lawyer, Gary Allan KC, disputed that the alleged assaults took place.

He put forward a different explanation for both events, which he denied.

The lawyer also disputed that his client had acted towards him in a “controlling” or “manipulative” way and suggested Robertson had the “right” to dislike his friends and family.

On Tuesday afternoon the court heard evidence from another alleged victim, whom Robertson was accused of assaulting “on a number of occasions” and behaving “erratically” towards her.

She told the court that “over time” Robertson began to act in a “controlling manner” towards her.

The 48-year-old said he was “not allowed” to meet friends or colleagues and that Robertson would start an argument just as he was about to meet them.

He also said that when he was drunk, he was verbally abusive towards her and at times acted physically aggressively towards her.

She gave an example in 2007 of him doing some work around the house with papers spread out on the kitchen floor while she was “sitting around drinking” in the front room.

He told the court: “He had a bottle of wine in his hand and he came straight away, didn’t say anything and poured it over me and (the papers).”

He also described an incident the same year in which an argument between them quickly “escalated” and he punched the refrigerator, leaving dents in it.

“I was almost chased around the house at this point,” he said.

“I was trying to escape.”

The hearing before Lady Drummond continues.