Warrant officer Darren Mark Fox faces court charged with act of indecency in the third degree
A warrant officer has faced court in Canberra accused of exposing himself to a woman in a storeroom and giving her a ‘bear hug’ so tight she suffered bruised ribs.
Canberra Star
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A soldier allegedly exposed himself when he cornered a woman in a poky storeroom, grabbed her from behind, spun her around and molested her, a court has heard.
Warrant Officer Darren Mark Fox on Monday pleaded not guilty to assault and committing an act of indecency in the third degree at a Defence Force Magistrates Court hearing in Canberra.
The charges stem from an April 2018 incident in which he is also accused of giving the woman a “bear hug” so tight she suffered bruised ribs.
The woman told the court she was crouched over in the store room when she felt Warrant Officer Fox’s hand on her left shoulder.
“He then swung me around to actually face him and then I felt his hands rubbing my back and his hands going down to my bottom and he was kissing me,” she said.
The woman, who cannot be identified, said she tried to push Warrant Officer Fox away, only for him to try to lift up her shirt.
“He told me that he’s a dirty fox, he’s always been a dirty fox, and I was saying no to him the whole time.”
“He had exposed himself to me, I looked down very quickly and his penis was out, and then he grabbed my right arm and led me over to the chair.”
The woman said she left, composed herself in the nearby womens’ bathrooms only to be confronted again by Warrant Officer Fox, who she said then picked her up off the ground in a “bear hug”.
Under cross examination by Defending Officer Lieutenant Commander Simon Lee, the woman repeatedly denied she had been a “willing participant” in a “dalliance” with Warrant Officer Fox.
“No, no, no,” she said.
The woman later confided in a friend, who was required to report the allegations to senior officers, although she said she still felt betrayed at having to take part in an investigation and having the “dirty little secret” aired.
“I had no intention of reporting the incident at the time, I just wanted to know what was going on around my (bruised) rib cage,” she said.
“I considered that the whole thing was a dirty little secret that was now out and people were going to know about it.”
“Who would want to go through an investigation? Who wants to be put through something like this? This has not been fun, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
She also denied that it was her who called Warrant Officer Fox a “dirty fox”.
“No, no, never said that,” she said.
“Darren Fox was the one that said, ‘I’m a dirty fox, I have always been a dirty fox’,” she said.
“Darren Fox molested me, sexually assaulted me, whatever you want to name it.
“He knows it, he knows it.”
The hearing, before Defence Force Magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves, continues.