A British Army soldier has been cleared of violently raping a female colleague after a night of drinking, although he was convicted of sexual assault.
Sapper Thomas Herrington, 19, was accused of forcing himself on the soldier while she was ‘out cold’ and dragging her by her hair and tying her to the bed with a dressing gown belt after she tried to escape.
A court martial heard the pair had struck up a sexual relationship after meeting two weeks prior and that she sent him sexual messages before the party.
The board at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire was told the female soldier ‘drank so much she passed out on one of the beds’ in another colleague’s room, before Spr Herrington was seen ‘cradling’ her before carrying her to his bedroom.
Herrington said they had spoken about how he ‘tends to get a bit more rough when drinking’.
He told the board: ‘We had spoken about interests and we both liked rough, kinky sex. She said she liked choking, hair pulling, the odd bit of spanking and being roughly-handled.
He explained that he wanted to ‘make sure she was OK’ as he ‘didn’t know her pain threshold’, and claimed he told her: ‘If you don’t want to do this just tell me to stop.’
The woman was ‘enjoying’ the sex but suddently ‘jolted forward’, got up and ran out of the room naked, the defendant added.
He told the hearing this left him ‘completely stunned’ and that he ‘didn’t know what I had done wrong’.
He continued: ‘As far as I was concerned I didn’t rape her… There were no signs of struggling, that’s why I was confused.’
While Spr Herrington was cleared of two charges of rape, he was convicted of sexual assault for penetrating her with his thumb in a way she ‘absolutely hated’.
She told police: ‘It felt really malicious. He knew I didn’t like it and he was talking like he was proud. That was really violating because of how much I hate that.’
Spr Herrington, of 1 Royal School of Military Engineering regiment, will be sentenced on Friday, May 27 for one charge of sexual assault.
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