RAAF Corporal David Leslie Marsh pleads not guilty to prejudicial conduct and committing an act of indecency
An air force member has faced court over allegations of sexual harassment, including claims he groped a teenager on her breast under the guise of slipping a $10 note into her shirt pocket.
Canberra Star
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An air force member might have been innocently “adjusting” himself and not “rubbing his groin” sexually when he allegedly looked at a female subordinate doing push-ups and said: “Oh my god, look at her arse, the things I could do to her”, a court has heard.
At a Defence Force Magistrates Court hearing in Canberra on Tuesday, Corporal David Leslie Marsh pleaded not guilty to two counts of prejudicial conduct and one count of committing an act of indecency without consent.
Cpl Marsh was stationed at RAAF base Williamtown near Newcastle in late 2018 when the three alleged incidents took place.
Prosecuting officer Squadron Leader Jonathan Miller said the first alleged prejudicial conduct offence took place during a training drill at an abandoned childcare centre on base, when a young female airwoman was doing push-ups during a dog handling drill.
The second prejudicial conduct incident stems from an allegation Cpl Marsh said to a teenage subordinate, “the things I could do to that arse” while the woman was in a “supported squatting” position at a shooting range.
Cpl Marsh is also accused of groping the teenager on the left breast, under the guise of slipping a $10 note into her shirt pocket as payment for some Hello Fresh recipe cards the woman gave him.
The victim of Cpl Marsh’s alleged groping, and the second prejudicial conduct allegation, who cannot be named, the told the court she felt “uncomfortable” reporting the case through her chain of command.
“My chain of command is actually friends with Cpl Marsh,” she said.
Military authorities began investigating in February this year when one of the alleged groping victim’s colleagues reported what he had been told to the Australian Defence Force Investigation Service.
Under cross examination by Cpl Marsh’s defending officer, Sqn Ldr Chris Thomson, the alleged groping victim denied suggestions Cpl Marsh could have been innocently “readjusting himself” as he watched the woman doing push-ups.
She also disagreed with Sqdn Ldr Thomson’s suggestion that Cpl Marsh was “making comments about the position of the arse of the dog”.
The alleged victim further disagreed with Sqdn Ldr Thomson’s suggestion that Cpl Marsh made “no comments at all about your arse” at the shooting range.
The hearing, before Defence Force Magistrate Wing Commander Joana Fuller, continues.