ARMY BACKS SOLDIER WHO ASSAULTED HIS TEENAGE DAUGHTER

Joe Hildebrand From: The Daily Telegraph April 14, 2011
A DRUNKEN army corporal who indecently assaulted his teenage daughter while she was staying at his ADF-subsidised house could be welcomed back into the military, officers told a court.

In the latest scandal to emerge about the behaviour of Defence Force personnel, the soldier attempted to have sex with his 14-year-old daughter after drinking heavily at a club in March 2009.

He approached her naked after she got out of the shower and pushed her on to a bed.

He only stopped the assault after neighbours - including an Army captain and an Army psychologist - heard screams and came to the house.

Yet two Army officers told the District Court in Sydney that if the soldier received a suspended sentence the Army would welcome him back.

"He is a very valued member of the Australian Army. Two officers have spoken very highly of him and have made it clear that his services are very much required by the Army," Judge Michael Finnane found.
"Both officers are of the opinion that, if he is not sent to jail, the Army will retain him."

While Judge Finnane - considered a tough sentencer - refused to suspend the whole sentence, he did impose just two years in a minimum-security prison out of a maximum 10-year sentence for the offence, citing "special circumstances".

"This is a solitary offence committed by a man who has never previously committed any offence and who is unlikely ever to commit any offence again," he ruled.

"Furthermore, the Army needs him and wants to deploy him in foreign places."

None of the parties can be identified for legal reasons.

The man confronted his daughter, nude himself, after she emerged from the shower with a towel on. He then:

* PHYSICALLY assaulted her by pushing her on to a bed;

* ASSAULTED her by holding her down; and

* ASSAULTED her by putting his hand over her mouth.

"The indecent assault came from his being naked, pulling a towel from her and reducing her to nakedness and getting on the bed on top of her," Judge Finnane found.

"When she screamed and he heard neighbours calling out, he let her go. She was shaken, but not physically harmed."

The captain and the psychologist who came to the girl's aid found the corporal wearing only underpants and saying he could not remembered what had happened.

Police were called. He pleaded guilty to the charges.

He will be eligible for parole in March 2013.