Duntroon: Soren Joseph Rea dismissed from army after court found him guilty of indecency
Soren Joseph Rea has been unceremoniously sacked from the defence force after he drunkenly refused to leave a woman’s room and twice committed acts of indecency on her.
Canberra Star
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An aspiring army officer has been unceremoniously booted from the Australian Defence Force after being found guilty of committing acts of indecency while he was at Canberra’s prestigious Royal Military College, Duntroon.
Former staff cadet Soren Joseph Rae’s dismissal from the military was confirmed last month following drawn-out legal proceedings in the Defence Force Magistrates Court.
According to an official summary of the case, Rae’s victim, who cannot be identified, had been drinking heavily when he climbed into her bed and refused to leave, committing two acts of indecency.
The woman was immediately distressed and went for help, and defence force magistrate Brigadier Michael Cowen QC accepted her account of the night, describing her as a “reliable and credible witness”.
The case was repeatedly delayed so Rae’s lawyers could get access to the woman’s medical records, and a three-day hearing finally went ahead in June, more than a year after Rae’s crimes.
Rae denied the allegations, and gave evidence saying he only stayed in the woman’s room “due to tiredness”.
Rae also admitted to putting his arm around the woman, but denied committing the two acts of indecency.
His evidence was rejected as being “unlikely”.
In sentencing a remorseless Rae, Brigadier Cowen found he had breached the woman’s trust.
Rae’s offending was described as “persistent”, with indecent acts committed against his victim.
The indecent attack, Brigadier Cowen said, was “entirely contrary to Army values’”
The indecent attack was also made worse because Rae’s victim was in a “vulnerable state”, having drunk heavily.
Brigadier Cowen said the message needed to be sent to other would-be sex offenders that they would be sternly punished for breaking the law.
Rae’s dismissal from the military, a punishment which falls just shy of jail time, was upheld on review.