Spanking Court Martial

I am wondering how many members of, or at least contributors to, the library, are aware of a Court Martial currently taking place in Canberra Australia. I accept that news items from Australia do not always rate highly in the UK (the main exception being when England again wins the Ashes).
The accused, a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Australian Navy, is accused of spanking a young junior woman sailor on her bared buttocks. The 23 charges include indecency, assaulting a subordinate and prejudicial conduct.
For those who are interested, the story is being run in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Please do not crash its website in excitement!

Will the Lieutenant Commander need any character witnesses? The library has any number of characters who could make good witnesses

Here's the link:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-30/27spanked27-female-soldier-gives-emotional-test imony/3704876

There's a paragraph when he told her to take off her pants before pulling her panties to her knees.

How stupid can a person be to mess up thier lives that way in the military? The guy is 58 years old for Pete's sake.

Incredibly stupid, apparently. What works for a spanking story is a terrible (even criminal) lapse in judgment in real life. (and please - nobody say something stupid like "maybe she deserved it").

What I find interesting about the alleged acts (and by "interesting" I do NOT mean exculpatory on the part of the spanker) is that the spankings occurred not only on board ship (where she may very well have been isolated, perhaps as the only female officer), but also at her home.

Note (irrelevant to the legal or moral issues): The article refers variously to the young woman as "a sailor" and "serving as a senior officer on his ship." An officer (whether junior or senior) is not considered a "sailor" (which is the term for a naval enlisted man or woman).

As soon as I saw the article I thought of the Library and wondered if people here knew about it. The other interesting thing about the assaults (that's what they were) is that she allowed it to happen so many times before reporting her superior. There's a pretty rotten culture in the Australian Navy when it comes to young women, and this is unfortunately another example of it.

And I was just going to say something like that....

I don't know much about Australian Navy and this special case, but I think it could be very easily seen as a story of a broken relationship and the revenge of a young woman. It seems to me that they were together over a year, that she visited his cabin many times (is there any woman in the world who isn't aware what it means to visit a man in his room?) and he visited her in her home (why did she let him in?). Women are very often attracted by older men, especially if they are in a leading position. Why was she isolated from the other women? That's a normal reaction if one colleague starts an affair with the boss.

S/M relationships are risky and especially the men are always in danger of being accused of assaults. If a spanked woman wants revenge for any reason, she can always claim assault and it's not hard to proof the evidence for the "victims". Even if the couple made a contract, she can always claim, that she didn't agree on one certain spanking or was forced to sign the contract. That means, that in real life a written contract in front of a witness would be necessary for a couple everytime they are engaging in a spanking. But that is taking away most of any romantic feeling and if you are in love with somebody the persisting on a written contract looks easily like mistrust.
One can of course say, that you should never start an affair with subordinates, but I think the working place is the place where 2/3rd of all relationships are beginning. I find it therefore quite difficult to judge in such very private cases. I think even the judges will have some difficulties to find the truth.

I tend to agree with Mati that the real truth will be difficult to find, but unless he thought they were in a consensual sexual relationship it was a very stupid thing to do, and afaik one should never have relationships with one under one's direct command.
PS I'm absolutely amazed that either The UK Daily Telegraph or Daily Mail hasn't picked up on this as they usually do on things spanking.
Perhaps we're too Euro obsessed at the moment!

I don't know Australian law, or Australia military regulations, but in the US, it would be clear that the ranking officer crossed the line, despite the supposed 'consent' of the junior officer (or sailor, whichever she was). You simply do not engage in that sort of behavior with a subordinate, and in the workplace, no less. Even if there were no testimony to the point, the supervisory role of the superior of the one - with the right to evaluate, hand out assignments, recommend for promotion, and discipline (in a PROPER way) -makes 'consent" (to spanking, to a sexual relationship, to a romantic relationship) questionable.

In the US military/navy, an affair between an officer and his/her subordinate in and of itself is grounds for a court martial. The commanding officer of New Jersey's National Guard (our part-time soldiers) recently resigned his commission because he was seen being affectionate with a staff officer. It just cannot be tolerated in a military environment.

In the civilian world in the US, a supervisor doing the same thing would be liable to a civil lawsuit for sexual harassment (and perhaps criminal charges for an assault, if there were a spanking), again due to the supervisory nature of his/her position. Here, consent at least could be argued as a defense. If it were me, however, even if a subordinate suggested it, there would be a big warning signal going off - "Danger!" I'm sure not going to rely on a jury to determine that it was consensual.

I imagine she was afraid of the consequence of not going along with it at first. She finally taped the conversation secretly and had him there and then, but it sure took her long enough. What was he saying to her that frightened her so? You have to wonder how the whole thing got started. Did they joke about spanking in general over a cup of coffee or a meal?

I can't be judgmental with the Austrialians because for the most part they are good people. Here in the US we have our share of idiots, too. I know here in the US an offier doing what he did could say good-bye to their commission, their honorable discharge, and maybe even their pension as an officer.

I feel for this young lady because of the ridicule and snide remarks that will surface in the years to come. I wonder how she could continue to give orders and look her fellow mates in the eyes as she does so. Very sad indeed.

B