THE SUNDAY STAR-TIMES SAYS:
This brave woman has carried the pain of the assault for 13 years – and always she must look over her shoulder. No more.
‘‘I do wonder where he is and what he’s doing.’’
That is a simple statement from one of the many young women soldiers sexually harassed and assaulted by Corporal Corey Michael Kennett.
But this brave woman, in speaking out to the Sunday StarTimes, went right to the nub of the issue: that serving military personnel may be convicted of heinous crimes in a Defence Force court martial – yet when they take off their uniform, nobody will know the danger they may pose to others.
In 2005, Kennett pleaded guilty to 12 charges including indecent assault, and was sentenced to six months in military prison.
If he had been tried in the criminal courts, the assaults would go on his record. Should an employer – such as a school or hospital – seek his police record, they would learn what risk he might prove to vulnerable people.
Not so under martial law. As the Defence Force confirmed this week, the media were never told of Kennett’s court martial. His crimes went unreported – until today.
When he left the army, he was able to gain a management role at Lexington Law, the firm says, without disclosing his offending.
That, says Colonel Craig Ruane, a military lawyer who handles courts martial, is the reality. Military convictions don’t appear on police records. And military offenders aren’t required to give DNA samples.
There has been discussion of changing this. Ruane says it’s overdue.
In our view, the predatory behaviour of Corporal Corey Kennett is an emphatic statement of why this law must be changed, and urgently.
Last month, a former navy officer spoke out in the Sunday Star-Times about being raped and suffering years of sexual harassment while in the navy. The perpetrator was never charged. Now this. We thank the woman who, in her interview today, lifts the lid on Kennett’s offending. If she had not spoken out, his crimes would never be exposed. He would have been able to take similar roles around teenagers, without anything to warn them of his history.
She was a recruit, aged just 17. She reported the assault – but nothing was done. ‘‘They just have no respect for females in the military,’’ she tells us. ‘‘The army covered it up. It’s still happening.’’
Kennett has built a new life, gone into management – his career seemingly untroubled by accountability for his offending.
This brave woman has carried the pain for 13 years. And always she must look over her shoulder, wondering what Kennett might do next.
No more.