A Navy sailor has been sentenced to two years at a military correctional facility and has been dismissed from service, after being found guilty of three serious sexual assault and violation charges.
Photo: RNZ
A court martial has taken place at the Devonport Navy Base in Auckland.
A military panel announced yesterday that it had found the sailor guilty of the three sex attacks.
Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral David Proctor, said the man, who has interim name suppression, had caused significant harm to his victims and had brought the Navy into disrepute.
"He has disrespected the colleagues he serves with - along with all those whose past service over many years has won the respect of New Zealanders," Proctor said.
"There is no place in the Navy for such behaviour and it is appalling that a member of our organisation has so flagrantly breached our core values of Tu Tira - Comradeship, Tu Maia - Integrity, Tu Tika - Commitment and Tu Kaha - Courage."
Proctor said he was committed to ensuring personnel have a safe and respectful workplace, free from harmful and inappropriate behaviour.
Prosecutor Sam McMullan said the man pursued two women in an apartment after a night out during a tour of duty in Victoria, British Columbia in August last year.
"Given the similarities between those two incidents, either they both happened, or [the defendant] has to be the victim of a remarkable coincidence for both of those two things to be false. Lightning doesn't strike twice," he said.
The defendant denied the assaults, as well as a third indecent assault on a third woman in a taxi last August.
