After serving for 24 years, a staff sergeant was fired from the Army for “smirking” while putting his hand up a young female soldier’s dress and squeezing her bottom.
It feels great, doesn’t it, Staff Sergeant Adam Porter, 42, said to the’shocked’ lady as his hand ‘disappeared’ up her thigh and grabbed her left buttock.
The drunk father of four had earlier said, “You’re going to get me into trouble,” when he first saw her.
He received a three-year community service term for the sexual assault, and the court reprimanded him for his “stupid inebriated” acts that damaged the trust amongst service members.
He now has to put in 80 hours of unpaid labour over the course of the next year.
Following a two-day trial at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire, SSgt Porter was found guilty.
The incident happened at a bar where troops from the regiment were having their first post-Covid work party, according to testimony given in court.
According to testimony given in court, SSgt. Porter inappropriately touched the complainant—who cannot be identified for legal reasons—in a sexual manner without her permission.
When SSgt. Porter arrived, he sat down next to the lady at the bar and ordered a round of drinks.
The court was told that shortly after, he grabbed her buttock while saying something to the effect of “feels wonderful, doesn’t it?”
The “shocked” lady then heard SSgt Porter say, “I shouldn’t have done that should I.”
The female soldier, who was considerably more junior than SSgt Porter, said in court that she “didn’t want to get too intoxicated” that evening since she had work the next day.
We were doing shots at the bar, she recalled. I had a routine talk with SSgt Porter the last time we spoke.
Then he began pointing at a couple of the present women and threatening to finger them. He was wasted. He wasn’t behaving like himself; he was stumbling, slurring his speech.
Then, SSgt. Porter told me, “I’m going to f*** you.” You’re going to cause me problems, he warned. I believe he flirtatiously suggested that I keep my distance from him.
As everyone left, SSgt Porter and I were the only two left at the bar, standing shoulder to shoulder.
As I turned to face the bar, he ran his fingers up my dress. I then felt him grip my behind before he withdrew his fingers.
I can still see him doing it while grinning.
She said that SSgt. Porter pinched her left buttock with his right hand for “two or three seconds.”
She said, “It was skin to skin contact.”
It feels great, doesn’t it, he replied as he withdrew his hand.
He promptly said, “I shouldn’t have done that, should I?” after waiting two seconds since he realized it was bad.
I was a little taken aback and unsure of what to do.
Three months later, one of her acquaintances informed a senior officer, according to the court martial, and a formal complaint was then lodged.
The female soldier, when questioned why she hadn’t raised a complaint sooner, claimed she “didn’t trust” her chain of command at the time since they were mostly male, pals, and “cliquey.”
In a victim impact statement given in court, Porter’s victim said that it was difficult to know “what to do and who to trust” after the assault because of the senior staff “clique.”
SSgt. Porter told the court he “didn’t recall” any interaction between the two of them that evening and claimed it hadn’t occurred. He and his partner had one kid together and three more from their past relationships.
After consuming a bottle of white wine, many tequila shots, and a bottle of port, the senior soldier claimed he was “well on his way” after the shots.
After two hours and forty-five minutes of deliberation, the board concluded that SSgt. Porter had committed sexual assault.
Judge Advocate General Darren Reed observed while passing judgment on the defendant: “Service members have limited options about where and with whom they serve.
Sexual misconduct weakens the trusting relationships that unite service members.
“You put your hands on a subordinate’s clothing.”
‘You undercut the standards required of you in that dumb intoxicated time,’ it said.
Within the following 12 months, Porter will finish 35 sessions of sex offenders rehabilitation and 80 hours of unpaid labor.