The Court Martial is taking place at the RNZAF Base in Whenuapai. Photo / Dean Purcell
WARNING: This article discusses allegations of sexual violation that may be distressing.
A member of the Air Force allegedly sexually violated a younger colleague after promising her he was only interested in a “friendship”.
The Leading Aircraftman, who has interim name suppression, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection at court martial in Auckland this week.
Prosecution Captain Paula Lee described the alleged incident as “a failure of comradeship”.
“The complainant in this case trusted the accused … and saw them as a mentor in a time of vulnerability."
Defence lawyer David Pawson disputed those allegations, saying it simply didn’t happen and the woman, who was 23, had a motive to be untruthful as she was at risk of being removed from the NZDF.
The allegations relate to an incident at an Air Force base earlier this year..
The pair had spent time together earlier in the day, gone for dinner and were lying on his bed watching a movie when the alleged violation took place.
The woman said she was lying next to the man, who was 39 at the time, and closed her eyes to rest.
“Then slowly I can feel his hands on my thighs, here I was in a bit of shock he had never touched my thighs before.“
He then allegedly put his hands up her skirt, underneath her underwear and violated her.
“I was silent, my eyes were closed, I can hear him saying my name, but I couldn’t say anything.
“I was shocked because I have never had an intimate relationship with anyone.
“I was feeling so much pain ... I started tearing up silently.”
She alleges the man then tried to get on top of her and kiss her, and she pushed him away.
“He told me ... ’I’m sorry if I let you down’.
“I told him, no it was my fault too.”
The woman said she did not realise she had been sexually assaulted at the time until she attended a sexual assault prevention seminar - after which she made a complaint.
“I was feeling guilt for not speaking up. If someone can manipulate me like this, he can manipulate anyone else in the service.
“He probably knew what he was doing. He was probably leading me on for a sexual intention.”
Defence lawyer Eleanor Rose Dyche argued the woman used the presentation on sexual ethics to formulate a false story.
“You’ve taken the keywords from that presentation and put them in your notes [that you referred to in your police interview].”
The woman said she only used notes during her police statement to remember minor details and dates.
The defence also asked about a quote from the police transcript where she talked about how she started to cry when the violation happened.
“I started crying but I just wanted to know how it feels like but I don’t know …”
She initially denied saying that but later admitted after hearing the audio of the interview.
Dyche said the witness’s text messages and behaviour after the incident, including visiting the defendant’s flat, didn’t support her claim a sexual assault had taken place.
“You’re saying he sexually assaulted you the night before and the next day you’re texting him and you’re going to his house uninvited.
“You sent him paragraphs of texts, but nothing about him sexually assaulting you.
“You’ve made up this allegation and manipulated the system to stay in the defence force.”
The two had met two days earlier at the base, where they “struck a connection and began to exchange messages”, Lee said.
The woman said the man offered to help her with her fitness and training while they chatted, and then added himself as a friend on Facebook on her phone. She later messaged him and asked why he wanted to help her with her fitness.
“That’s not a conversation for messenger, there’s things I can’t say here, but if you really want to get into police combat roles, come chat with me,” he said in a message that night.
“Come to flat [number] if you’re brave.”
When cross-examined about the messages, the man said: “There were things that I didn’t want to communicate over an insecure platform” regarding his work history and training.
When asked why he engaged in conversation with the young woman, he said she seemed isolated.
He also had “sympathy” for her work situation and she had told him she had been rejected romantically by another man at the base.
In the messages, the woman showed apprehension about visiting his flat, asking if there would be other people around and asking him, “Why would I go to some random guy’s apartment?” but did eventually go.
“I sat in the corner on the floor, and he was sitting on his bed. We started chatting, normal conversation about trades.
“He told me to come closer to him, to sit on the floor closer to his legs.”
She said he gave her a head massage and they spent more time together the next day.
That night she said he became agitated because he was not sitting beside her while they were together inside his room.
..
“I told him I have a gut feeling he has a sexual interest in me, and he would get angry at me every time I brought it up.
“He was saying if I was uncomfortable we should cut the whole friendship off.”
Later, she asked him via a message if he expected physical touch from his friends. He replied, “Yeah, nothing sexual though.”
She responded, “I’d be comfortable if it’s friendly, and now I know you don’t see me as I thought.”
About three months after the alleged incident, the man was arrested and interviewed by police, during which time he told them he “did not touch her, or penetrate her in any way”.
The police investigator asked why he purchased boxing gloves and dinner for her earlier that day.
“I will generally pay for most things around friends or young people.
“Especially females, I will pay for dinner as well,” he said.
The man claimed during his interview that the young aircraftman asked him to accompany her to different events because “she wasn’t allowed to go alone”.
“When you live on an Air Force base, there are social niceties that happen,” he said.
The man said the woman sought to hang out with him, but then seemed uncomfortable in his presence, which in turn made him feel uncomfortable.
He said there were “a few times” when she showed up at his door uninvited, wanting to “hang out”.
“She was very draining to be around because she was going through a difficult time.
“I found it very exhausting to talk to her ... ”
He suggested he sometimes put on a movie as “respite” from the “mental torment she was putting herself through” while she was at his flat.
When asked by police about that night, he said there was an “event” between the two of them that made him “very uncomfortable”.
It started with them watching a movie before they lay down.
He said he found it strange that she was lying on his chest after previously indicating she was uncomfortable with physical touch with him.
“The movie was playing, and it sounded like she was moaning in her sleep.
“I remember watching the movie and she’s moaning in my ear, which was really strange.
“I started to feel very very uncomfortable, I remember her rubbing her groin on my leg and moaning, and I was really concerned that she had performed some type of sexual act in her dream that she was now performing on my leg.”
The defendant alleges the complainant then kissed him and ran out of the flat.
“As soon as she kissed me, she sprung up and she just looked at me, and just ran out of the room.
“I was just f***ing shocked.
“I knew at that point ... the threat of her making allegations against me was very real, and I was petrified,” he told police.
He said he stopped speaking to her “because I was getting some indications there were some pretty big mental instabilities with [her]”.
“Her anger was obviously something I was worried about, even at that point it was pretty evident she was capable of making false allegations or just making someone’s life difficult.”
He said in the defence force it is implied, “If a female changes her mind about sleeping with you, it’s sexual assault“ and “in terms of the air force, it’s a dangerous place for men to be alone with a woman”.
“This case is fairly and squarely about credibility,” defence lawyer David Pawson told the military jury.
“He was taken by surprise, and he was arrested. He was plucked.
“He had no time to conjure up notes, sit with them, and refer to them to answer questions,” he said, referring to the notes the woman took with her to her police interview.
Detective Constable James Waldron dismissed Pawson’s suggestion that it was unfair for the complainant to prepare notes before her police interview about the allegations.
“I believe it’s okay for complainants to have some type of aid to assist their memory.”
Waldron also denied it was unusual that the man was arrested before being interviewed.
“We had sufficient evidence to arrest, therefore we did.”
Waldron noted the aviator was read his rights and spoke to his lawyer before being interviewed by police. He was not cuffed and Waldron agreed he was “co-operative” during the arrest and interview.
Pawson also put to Waldron there was a risk of contamination due to the complainant having spoken with many people about the allegations.
“I’m not aware of making any direct or leading questions in this case,” Waldron said.
Sexual assault prevention and response adviser Richard Feather described the woman as “clearly distressed” when she disclosed the alleged violation several months later.
“She was worried she wouldn’t be believed and wanted to work out what her options were.”
Pawson argued the witness had changed her story by first stating the man had “tried to finger her” and later clarifying when asked by Feather at the request of military police, that penetration was involved.
Pawson suggested to the jury that such “leading questions” could lead to contamination of the case.
“The advice was by military police, that if there had been digital penetration, that it be best dealt with by the NZ Police force,” Feather said.
The court martial at the RNZAF Base in Whenuapai continues and the jury is expected to go out this afternoon.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
Emergency services were called to the scene about 8.20pm.