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A New Zealand Army Lieutenant Colonel was today found guilty of indecently assaulting a female officer while she was involved in a training course on which he was an instructor.
He was found not guilty of a second charge of behaving in a disgraceful and indecent manner, brought under the Armed Forces Discipline Act.
That charge related to an allegation he had been masturbating in the women's room.
The woman said the pair had been drinking together at an officers mess on the night of March 23, 2007, at a court martial at Trentham Army Camp this week.
She claimed the officer later had gone to her room uninvited and tried to force himself on her.
After resisting his advance she said he became distraught and sobbed with his head in his hands.
She got up to open a window and when she turned back to face the man he had removed his trousers and was masturbating, she said.
Defence counsel Tom Gilbert today argued it would have been impossible for the man to have gone from sobbing to having taken his pants off and becoming aroused during the few seconds her back was turned.
He said the officer, who was married at the time, had admitted the two kissed and that he had made a mistake in going to her room, but he maintained that what took place was consensual and when the woman said no he had stopped.
Mr Gilbert said she may have had motive to make up a story as her fiance, who was a close friend of the accused and had left a previous partner for cheating on him, was likely to hear of her infidelity.
He will be sentenced tomorrow morning. The names of both officers were suppressed.
- NZPA
