GROPED CORPORAL’S ORDEAL

A FEMALE lance corporal was told by a woman officer to “go away and think about it” after reporting being groped by a male superior.

The victim said she was pressured to keep quiet after the horrifying ordeal at an Army base in the West Country.

She said: “I have been a soldier now for five years and every female soldier I know has either been sexually abused or harassed, some have even been raped but very few have made any formal complaint.”

The still-serving lance corporal was a private and on a course when she was assaulted about four years ago.

She had been warned some of the instructors might try it on and on the third night one came into her room on the pretence of talking about the course. She said: “Some of the students and instructors had had a few drinks and I think he got the wrong idea. Almost immediately he tried to kiss me, when I refused he said I was being a flirt.

“He pushed me on to my bed and groped me. I was in shock, I thought I was going to get raped and I was terrified.

“I kept telling him to leave me alone, that I was not interested in sex but he just laughed. I managed to tell him

that unless he left I would scream. He left my room and I felt violated.”

The next morning she reported the attack but was told any complaint against a male senior NCO would affect her career and she would be “regarded as a slag”.

She feels her experience is part of a cover up culture and said: “I felt completely alone and didn’t have the confidence to pursue a formal complaint. “

Complaining will hit your career and you’ll be seen

as a slag