Rape trial told police officer Martyn Coulter threatened woman

A police officer accused of rape and assault told his alleged victim no-one would listen to her, a court has heard.

Martyn Coulter, 36, is accused of assaulting and raping the woman in Dunbar, East Lothian, and in Edinburgh in 2013.

He is also accused of the rape and a series of sexual assaults on a girl, aged five when attacks began, from September 2013 to November 2014.

Mr Coulter, who is suspended from the force, denied all the charges.

The woman, who gave evidence on the second day of the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, said she was subjected to abuse by Mr Coulter.

She also told the jury she saw him throw a young child across a room.

Advocate depute Kath Harper asked if she had ever thought about going to the authorities and she replied: "Not at that point."

The prosecutor asked why not and she replied: "Because I didn't think anyone would listen to me. He had said nobody would listen to me anyway, because he was a police man."

The 36-year-old said that Mr Coulter would lash out when he was angry and on one occasion he slammed her head into a kitchen cabinet.

She was asked what force was used and said: "Hard enough that my head hit it and came back."

The witness told the court that after the incident she did not challenge Mr Coulter because she was scared.

On another occasion, the woman recalled she asked him why he did not punch her in the face.

She continued: "He said he wouldn't do that because that would leave a mark.

"He would slap me a couple of times on the face, but with an open hand."

The woman said that Mr Coulter got really cross with a girl and picked her up and threw across a room.

She said: "He tossed her across the room, which is quite a long way, and she hit the radiator."

The woman said she was interviewed in 2020 by police after a child had made disclosures.

The witness later told the court police had been phoned in 2014 because of Mr Coulter's behaviour.

She said: "I did not disclose to officers in 2014 that he had physically assaulted me.

"I didn't want to tell anyone."

Mr Coulter is standing trial having denied eight charges.

These include assaulting the woman on occasions from June 2013 to November 2014 by hitting and kicking her, causing her to fall down stairs and striking her head against a kitchen cabinet.

He is also accused of attacking a five-year-old girl and another girl, aged four or five, at an address in Dunbar between September 2013 and November 2014.

Mr Coulter faces a further charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner during that period.

The trial, before Lady Drummond, continues.