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LONDON - A British Royal Navy senior rating was jailed for five years today for raping a female colleague on board a warship in the first case of its kind since women were allowed to serve at sea, the Ministry of Defence said.
Chief Petty Officer Phillip Coates, 30, was convicted last week by a court martial of raping the 24-year-old junior rating on a ship last March.
"He has been dismissed with disgrace, formally demoted to medical assistant which is the lowest rank and he's lost all his good conduct badges," an MoD spokesman said after Coates was sentenced at HMS Nelson at Portsmouth Naval base.
The sailor had told his trial that his colleague had consented to sex after a barbecue on the ship, which cannot be identified for legal reasons, which was based in the Mediterranean at the time.
But the victim, who admitted drinking wine and spirits, denied she had agreed to have sex with him. She only recalled the rape two months later during a therapy session with a doctor.
The case is the first conviction for a rape on board a ship since 1990 when women were allowed to serve at sea.
- REUTERS
