A female RAF Corporal has won a sex harassment case after a colleague molested her while she slept, despite a court martial clearing him of sexual assault.
The news comes as questions swirl around the effectiveness of court martials in dealing with sexual offences cases, with 80 per cent of rape charges tried by military courts ending without a conviction.
The ‘outstanding’ Corporal, who left the air force following the incident, is now in line to receive a huge payout after successfully suing the Ministry of Defence over it, having previously turned down a £15,750 compensation offer from the MoD.
The tribunal heard that while she was stationed in Greek island Crete, the woman woke up following an RAF night out in her hotel room to find her male colleague abusing her.
At the hearing, the RAF accepted the attack had taken place but tried to defend themselves by arguing it didn’t happen ‘in the course of employment’ as she was on a night out.
But the tribunal rejected that argument and ruled that the MoD was ‘vicariously’ liable for the incident.
The tribunal panel concluded: ‘The [MoD] accepts that there are areas where matters could have been handled better, particularly in relation to the RAF Police investigation.
‘But those failings are not inherently evidence of less favourable treatment or matters from which an inference can or should be drawn of discrimination.
‘There is nothing to suggest things would have handled things differently if she had been a man reporting a physical assault for example.
‘There is no factual dispute that the sexual assault took place.
‘The MoD denies liability solely on the grounds that it is not vicariously liable. We have proceeded on the basis that there is no dispute that her account of the incident occurred as she describes it.
‘We have also found that the act occurred in the course of employment. This allegation is therefore upheld, and the complaint of sexual harassment succeeds.’
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