A COUNCILLOR convicted of sexual assault has been suspended from his role.
The Standards Commission for Scotland has suspended former Conservative Alan Donnelly for three months from Aberdeen City Council.
The former depute lord provost quit the Tories, but has refused to stand down as a councillor. He was found guilty of sexual assault in December and placed on the sex offenders register.
The Standards Commission panel concluded that “it was satisfied that it was both proportionate and in the public interest for it to impose an interim suspension” on him.
The severity of the allegations played a part in the interim suspension being imposed, which is an unusual move while allegations continue to be investigated.
Standards Commission convener Professor Kevin Dunion said: “The Code of Conduct is clear about the standards of behaviour expected of councillors at all times.
“While the allegations against Councillor Donnelly have not yet been fully investigated by the ESC (Ethical Standards Commissioner) and are, as such, unsubstantiated, they are of a particularly serious nature.
“We decided that it was in the public interest to impose an interim suspension, to maintain public confidence in the ethical standards framework in Scotland.”
If the investigation by the ESC does not conclude within the period of the interim suspension, the Standards Commission will consider renewing it.
READ MORE: Councillor convicted of sexual assault causes fury after voting on plans
In its decision notice, the panel added: “The panel noted that it appeared that the conduct complained of had taken place while Councillor Donnelly attended an event in his capacity as a councillor and that it had resulted in him being convicted for a sexual assault and placed on the sex offenders register (being a further ground of complaint).
“The panel noted that while the allegations against Councillor Donnelly had not yet been fully investigated by the ESC and, as such, were unsubstantiated, they were of a particularly serious nature.
“The panel was satisfied, therefore, that there was prima facie evidence of a serious contravention of the Councillors’ Code, which, if upheld, was likely to attract a more severe sanction than a censure.”
Earlier this week, Mr Donnelly caused angry scenes when he turned up to vote on planning proposals at a council meeting.
Many councillors showed their disdain at Mr Donnelly taking part in the meeting while being a convicted sex offender. He was free to vote on the council budget on Tuesday, before being suspended.
Aberdeen City Council declined to comment on Mr Donnelly's suspension.
The Standards Commission has only ever issued one interim suspension, on Perth and Kinross councillor Colin Stewart.
Mr Stewart is still suspended with a panel finding there "may have been a pattern of bullying and intimidating behaviour by Councillor Stewart towards a number of individuals over a period of months".
Earlier, the Commissioner of the ESC, Caroline Anderson, told MSPs that incoming complaints have “significantly increased”.
Speaking at Holyrood’s Local Government and Communities Committee, she added: “At 31 December last year, councillor complaints were up by over 90 per cent pro rata – with councillor case numbers by 50 per cent.
“MSP complaints have also substantially increased – with cases up approximately 100 per cent on the previous period, pro rata.”
She also pointed to the “heightened complexity and gravitas of the incoming complaints” adding to workloads – but stressed the organisation was still able to cope with all incoming complaints.
Andy Wightman quizzed Ms Anderson about remarks made by the ESC in relation to the case against Mr Donnelly – which included that “the commissioner may on occasion administer a case in a given manner with a view to optimising administrative efficacy”.
Ms Anderson reassured MSPs that “all complaints are logged and analysed” and said it was an “unfortunate” phrasing.
She added: “I can confirm that all of the complaints were logged, were analysed and if any more came in now, the same would be the case.
“We did assure all complainers that the matter was being acted on.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel