ADF’s sex offenders revealed
From drunken gropers to sleazy snap sharers, these are some of the ADF officers busted for sex offences in the defence courts in 2021.
Canberra Star
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Australian Defence Force members are supposed to live by the values of service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence.
However some service members have disregarded those values and have found themselves before the Defence Magistrates Court charged with lewd crimes.
Here are some of the worst sex offenders to go through the Defence Force Magistrates Court in 2021.
Hannah Paige Hite
A former soldier was convicted of groping four men while on a night out in Townsville.
Hannah Page Hite was convicted of three counts of an act of indecency without consent and one count of assault in a public place
Hite pleaded guilty to all four charges at the Defence Force Magistrate in Canberra last April.
In court, she admitted she shoved her hands down the pants of two men and fondled their genitalia, touched a third man on the testicles through his pants and assaulting another man by grabbing his bottom and licking his neck.
Hite was a member of the ADF at the time of her offending, however at the time of the proceedings she had already been dismissed from the defence force in December 2020 for unrelated reasons
Prosecuting officer Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Fielden said Hite’s short-lived career in the Army had been marred by two alcohol-related disciplinary convictions for failing to obey orders and a civilian high-range drink driving conviction.
“The standards of behaviour of the defence force has not just been broken, but been smashed,” he said.
Hite’s defence lawyer, Squadron Leader Travis Schmidt, told the court jail time was “off the table”, his client had already been punished by being sacked, and she was unable to pay any fines due to her unemployment.
Defence Force Magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves convicted Hite without punishment, but told the court he normally would send gropers to military detention however, could not order this because she was now a civilian.
He addressed Hite and said “your behaviour was reprehensible young lady”.
Read the full story here
Brodie Reid
A Naval officer was dismissed from the ADF after forcing a fellow trainee to touch his penis.
Brodie Reid pleaded guilty to one count of an act of indecency without consent at the Defence Force Magistrates Court sitting at HMAS Cerberus in March last year.
The court heard the incident occurred in the common room at the Crib Point training base in late-2020 when Reid grabbed the complainant’s hand and placed it on his erect penis.
He reportedly said to the complainant “Do you like that?” and “Just do it, no one is going to see it.”
Reid then attempted to grab the woman’s groin area and then removed his penis from his pants, grabbed his victim’s head and forced it towards his groin, the court heard.
“It will be fine, no one will see,” Reid said.
The complainant reported her head went as close as 10cm to Reid’s penis.
Soon after this happened another person walked into the common room and the incident was later reported.
Reid blamed “stress” namely the breakdown of his relationship with another female sailor who had given birth to his child as a contributor to his offending.
The court also heard Reid was concerned he would be dismissed from the Navy on medical grounds.
In a victim statement the complainant said she felt withdrawn, unsafe and had become distrustful of men.
“I blame myself for it,” she said.
“I believed I had done something to deserve it.”
During sentencing, Defence Force magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves said he “would not be blaming her for anything”, describing her as a brave and mature young woman.
Reid was sentenced in May 2021 where Group Captain Geeves ordered he be dismissed from the Navy.
Read the full story here
John Ronald Nicholson
A soldier was booted from the army after he sent unsolicited picture of his genitals to two female colleagues.
Private John Ronald Nicholson was charged with two acts of indecency without consent.
He pleaded guilty to both charges when he faced the Defence Force Magistrates Court last July.
The court heart Nicholson sent the first of his victims a message containing an image of his penis in March 2020.
When asked by the woman why he sent the image to her he said he didn’t think she was with her boyfriend anymore.
The court heard within the same month, Nicholson sent another image of his penis to a different woman.
A month later the woman asked him if he had sent an image of his own penis to which he responded “yes I did.”
In sentencing, Defence Force Magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves said he gave significant weight to the victim impact statement provided by the second complainant.
“Unsurprisingly, the unsolicited provision of sexualised and inappropriate imagery had an effect on the complainant,” Group Captain Geeves said.
“The defendant, although inexperienced in terms of rank and time served, was a mature man.”
The court heard sending unsolicited dick pics to two female soldiers demonstrated a clear lack of integrity and disrespect of service values
Read the full story here.
Adam McQuillan
Adam McQuillan’s career in the RAAF was promising until the provisional corporal made the perverse decision to take and share an intimate image of a female service member without her consent.
McQuillan pleaded guilty to one count of capturing visual data and three counts of non-consensual distribution of an intimate image when he faced the Defence Magistrates court in Canberra last November.
The court heard McQuillan took a photo of the woman who was only wearing her underwear without her knowledge prior to consensually sleeping together.
He would later show the image to three other defence force members.
In a victim impact statement the complainant said McQuillan’s actions made her feel “like an object” and affected her work to the point she decided to move base.
“All my friends look at me differently,” she said.
“I’m tired of it all.”
In sentencing, Brig Cowen told McQuillan: “You need to look into your soul about your attitudes towards women who share intimate experiences with you.
“You put yourself way before the complainant – you demonstrated a complete disregard and complete disrespect for her rights, her wishes, the impact it may have on other people’s views of her.”
McQuillan was dismissed from the RAAF.
Read the full story here
Shadi Kantibye
A soldier who groped a female colleague for 45 minutes in her own bed as she lay in foetal position was dismissed from the ADF in December following a six-day trial.
Former private Shadi Kantibye pleaded not guilty to one charge of an act of indecency without consent at the defence Magistrates Court in Canberra.
The woman told the court Kantibye had groped her while they were stationed at Bandiana Barracks in Albury Woodonga.
She said the defendant knocked on her door in the early hours of the morning while drunk, and eventually ended up in her bed where he touched her breasts, genitalia and whole body, rubbed his penis against her backside and at one point licked her face.
She told the court the ordeal lasted for 45 minutes, despite her telling him to stop and rolling into a foetal position to try to stop him from touching her.
During the trial the defence maintained Kantibye was not even in the room when the crime took place and was instead drinking with friends in a common area.
However Kantibye’s defence fell apart when a witness, who the defendant described as “his alibi”, told the court he was heavily intoxicated and had experienced blackouts from his drinking.
The witness told the court he could not remember if he was with Kantibye at the time of incident. In sentencing, Defence Force magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves described the witness as unreliable due to his intoxication.
The magistrate found Kantibye guilty and ordered he be dismissed from the ADF and described his crime as “so inconsistent” with ADF values.
“When a person, male or female, tells you to stop you do so automatically,” Group Captain Geeves said.
During sentencing the complainant tearfully read out her victim impact statement to the court and defiantly said she would not let Kantibye’s actions ruin her life or define her.
“I said no for 45 minutes … hopefully you understand now that no means no,” she said.
“I get triggered seeing (Kantibye) … I freeze like I’m back in that bed being assaulted again.
“Maybe through therapy I’ll have some semblance of a normal life “
“Maybe one day I’ll enjoy sex again.”
Read the full story here
Jeremy O’Byrne
A self described “proud dad” ruined his decade-long career in the Navy after he was found guilty of an act of indecency without consent towards a subordinate.
Former Leading Seaman Jeremy O’Byrne pleaded not guilty to one count of an act of indecency without consent, and a back up charge of assaulting a subordinate at the Defence Force Magistrates court in Canberra.
The court heard O’Byrne repeatedly texted the complainant, who held the rank of Able Seaman, until she said he was able to come over to her house.
He brought alcoholic drinks to her house, and chatted casually with her.
Later that night, the woman found O’Byrne stripped to his underwear in her bedroom and on her bed and then he hugged her without her consent and then grabbed and pinned her down on her bed.
During the trial O’Byrne told the court he visited the woman because he was concerned about her mental health, however Defence Force Magistrate Brigadier Michael Cowan described his evidence as “implausible”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said she no longer felt comfortable at work and at home since the incident.
“I feel unsafe in my own home, I check doors (and) my anxiety is heightened when people arrive unannounced,” she said.
During sentencing O’Byrne held his head in his hands as the magistrate described how his actions contradicted his ‘family man’ persona.
“The drunken act of persistence against a female college had a significant impact,” Brig Cowan said.
“(O’Byrne) you have a daughter you might want to entrust in the ADF.”
Brig Cowan said O’Byrne had let himself down and the Navy down and ordered he be dismissed from the ADF.
Read the full story here
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