Warrant Officer Darren Mark Fox not guilty of indecency and assault
A soldier who denies referring to himself as a ‘dirty fox’ has been cleared of indecency and assault charges.
Canberra Star
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A soldier accused of molesting a woman has been branded a liar but cleared of indecency and assault charges despite his “unconvincing” evidence denying the allegations.
Defence Force Magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves on Friday said he had “a great level of consternation” about his decision to find Warrant Officer Darren Mark Fox not guilty of indecency and assault charges.
Warrant Officer Fox was accused of shutting himself in a store room with a woman, grabbing her from behind, swinging her around and rubbing his hands over her, including an attempt to get inside her shirt, all while he had his penis exposed.
He denied saying to the woman “I’m the dirty fox, I’ve always been the dirty fox” and later giving the a “bear hug” so tight she was left with bruised ribs.
The Defence Force Magistrates Court also heard evidence Warrant Officer Fox complimented the woman on her “nice rack” but insisted he was joking about the military medals pinned to her chest.
Warrant Officer Fox’s legal team also called evidence from a senior officer that he saw the soldier and his alleged victim behaving affectionately towards each other in the week after the alleged incident.
Group Captain Geeves said the credibility of Warrant Officer Fox and the woman were “paramount”.
He said the woman made an “earnest effort” to give truthful answers when questioned over the incident in court.
But he said there were inconsistencies in a series of statements investigators took from her, and that a lie she told to a doctor about when her ribs were injured undermined her credibility.
Group Captain Geeves said Warrant Officer Fox had been “belligerent” with investigators and the evidence he gave in court was “not his finest hour”.
“You might suggest to me that perhaps it’s behavior of a man under pressure,” he said.
He said he was “not prepared to treat the lie” that Warrant Officer Fox told investigators he had never been in the store room alone with the woman as a sign he was covering up a crime “notwithstanding that there were some features of his performance that led me to be unconvinced”.
“I find myself left in a state of reasonable doubt as to what the truth was,” he said.