Navy engineer loses job for groping sailor as she climbed ladder
A ROYAL Navy engineer has been dismissed from the service for groping a woman sailor’s bottom as she climbed up a ladder on the £3.1billion aircraft carrier Prince of Wales.
Able Seaman Daniel Goffey had been following the sailor up the ladder when he grabbed her behind and ‘sniggered’ as she slapped his hands away.
As he was sentenced for the sexual assault a judge told him women crew members shouldn’t have to ‘constantly worry they might be molested’ by drunk colleagues while on duty.
Goffey, 26, groped the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after drinking at a barbecue on board the Prince of Wales, Britain’s biggest warship.
At Tidworth Military Court, an ‘incredibly sorry’ Goffey offered to pay the victim compensation at his sentencing.
The judge said that sexual assault cases were ‘more serious’ within the services because they ‘ undermine unit cohesion’. Goffey had denied sexual assault but was convicted at the end of a three- day trial which heard that a number of informal parties broke out across the ship after an organised deck barbecue came to an end.
He was with a group that tried to join another party, which meant using a ladder. As the group went up one by one, Goffey put his hands ‘either side’ of the victim’s bottom. He had been pestering her before the incident. The sentencing hearing was told colleagues described Goffey as an ‘upstanding member of his department’. Defence barrister Helen Easterbrook said he was ‘incredibly sorry’ and added: ‘He has some savings and he would be willing to pay her compensation.’
Assistant Judge Advocate General Jane England told Goffey he had been pestering
‘You don’t take responsibility’
women sailors, including the victim, that night.
‘You grabbed her bottom. She told you to stop and you sniggered are her. Although we accept you apologised… you still don’t take full responsibility. Service personnel are entitled not have to constantly worry they might be molested by a colleague that has had a drink.’
Goffey also received an 18month community order.