An MSP allegedly put his former wife in hospital by pushing her to the ground, a court has been told.
The trial of Bill Walker heard that his second wife, Anne Gruber, went to accident and emergency after hitting her head on concrete.
The 71-year-old politician is accused of a string of attacks against Mrs Gruber and three other women over a 28-year period.
The independent member for Dunfermline denies 23 assaults and one breach of the peace.
On the fourth day of his trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Dr Kranti Hiremath said she had been asked to review Mrs Gruber's medical records from the 1970s and 1980s.
She read to the court an entry made by Mrs Gruber's doctor on November 5 1983.
It said: "She attended the accident and emergency department at Royal Infirmary at 4am or 5am, having been pushed by her husband, falling to the ground, striking her head on concrete."
The doctor's notes said Mrs Gruber, then known as Mrs Walker, was not unconscious but had bruising and swelling to the back of her head, the court heard.
Dr Hiremath agreed that the injuries were consistent with "blunt force trauma" and the account given by Mrs Gruber.
She read another entry from a doctor at the time.
"My opinion is that Mrs Walker's condition of anxiety and depression over many months has been largely due to her husband's behaviour which appears unreasonable and latterly violent," it said.
Under cross-examination by Walker's lawyer, solicitor advocate Gordon Martin, Dr Hiremath agreed that the medical records were based on Mrs Gruber's account of events.
The court later heard from Detective Sergeant Paul Dick who detained Walker and interviewed him several times at Glenrothes police office after the allegations came to light.
Mr Dick read from a transcript of a police interview in which the MSP was asked about a claim that he punched first wife Maureen Traquair in the eye two weeks before their marriage in 1967.
Ms Traquair previously told the court she had to buy make-up to hide a black eye on her wedding day.
Walker told police he had "absolutely no recollection" of the incident, Mr Dick said.
In extracts of the interview read to the court, the MSP said: "I've no comment there. No, completely deny that. Deny it. Deny everything, don't know anything about it. Can't remember anything about anything like that."
Mr Dick said that when asked about violence in his relationship with Mrs Gruber, Walker said she once tried to stab him with an old metal dagger.
The officer said Walker laughed as he described how his wife advanced on him with the dagger.
"She came at me with this thing," he told police.
"I was lucky I managed to grab it or it would have been right in my abdomen."
Mr Dick said Walker admitted he hit Mrs Gruber's daughter Anne Louise Paterson over the head with a saucepan in 1978.
He told officers he acted in self-defence when he was assaulted by his stepdaughter.
"She actually jostled me and literally punched me and, I admitted this before, I did hit her in the head twice," Walker said in another extract read to the court.
He told officers he had been "covered in blood" because a front tooth had come out when he was punched.
In police interviews Walker said an allegation he had taken an air rifle to Mrs Gruber's house was "outrageous" and "ridiculous".
His former wife previously told the court he had jumped through her French windows with the weapon on her birthday after their separation in 1978.
Mr Dick said Walker told him he was "distraught" to learn his wife was with another man that night and went to the house.
The MSP denied he had taken an air rifle with him and said it may have been an umbrella, the court heard.
Walker is alleged to have attacked ex-wives Anne Gruber, Maureen Traquair and Diana Walker and stepdaughter Anne Louise Paterson between January 1967 and January 1995.
The alleged assaults are said to have taken place at addresses in Edinburgh, Stirling, Midlothian and Alloa.
Walker, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, has lodged a special defence of self-defence in relation to three of the charges.
The trial, before Sheriff Katherine Mackie, continues tomorrow.
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