Mum tells court ex-SNP councillor accused of sexually assaulting son 'could not look' at her

A mum has told jurors an ex-SNP councillor "could not look at her" amid claims he had sexually assaulted her son.

The woman recalled how she had been alerted that her then teenage boy had been seen with a knife in Condorrat, Lanarkshire in February 2015.

She immediately drove to the scene and found her son holding a weapon.

The High Court in Glasgow today heard former councillor Mark Kerr was standing nearby at the time.

The 40 year-old is on trial facing a number of charges including the attempted rape of the then teenager.

Prosecutor Michael Macintosh today asked the woman: "Did your son say or do anything?"

She replied: "He was shouting to Mark Kerr: 'Tell my mum.. tell my mum what you done to me'."

The witness said her son was crying and "in one sense seemed spent, but, in another, desperate".

Mr Macintosh asked what Kerr did.

The mum: "He dropped his head and said: 'I never done anything'.

"But, as soon as the head went down... he could not look at me."

Mr Macintosh: "His words were a denial, but you thought it significant that he looked down?"

She replied: "Yes."

Her son was arrested for having the knife and appeared in court.

She claimed he later told her about the alleged "incident" with Kerr.

Asked how he was when he was explaining, the woman said he was "upset and sad".

The son earlier claimed in his evidence that he was attacked by Kerr at a house in Croy, Lanarkshire.

He had initially looked upon Kerr as a "mentor" after coming out as gay.

Kerr, now of Wishaw, denies a total of 14 charges involving six males between 2010 and 2020.

The trial, before Judge Douglas Brown, continues.

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