Ashley Hoogwerf found not guilty after Defence Force Magistrates Court trial
A sailor who was accused of committing indecent acts against a man under his command has been found not guilty. Read what the magistrate had to say.
Canberra Star
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A sailor cried tears of relief before embracing his partner after a magistrate found him not guilty of all indecency and assault charges against him.
Chief Petty Officer Ashley Hoogwerf faced a four-day trial at the Defence Force Magistrate court in Canberra, where he fought two counts of an act of indecency without consent and two counts of assaulting a subordinate.
All charges related to a former sailor who reported the alleged abuse, which dated back to 2018 and 2019, when he left the ADF in early 2022.
The Tasmanian man accused CPO Hoogwerf of consistently slapping him while on the job, placing a screwdriver between his buttocks, humping his head with his groin, and rubbing his face up down his face.
On Friday, Defence Force Magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves said he had reasonable doubts about the allegations, particularly noting discrepancies between the former sailor’s original report and the evidence he gave at trial.
“The complainant said his memory had improved (between March 2022 and November 22),“ he said.
“I note memories do not improve over time.”
Another issue raised by the magistrate was an allegation CPO Hoogwerf assaulted the man while he was sitting on a toolbox.
During the trial, evidence about the height of the toolbox suggested someone would need to be very tall in order to commit the assault.
“Hoogwerf is not a giraffe,” Group Captain Geeves said.
On Thursday Hoogwerf’s defence lawyer Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Gracie accused the former navy man of trying to get revenge against his client.
He said the timing of the complainant reporting the incident was “inexplicable” and said it would have made more sense for him to make the complaint after his formal warning.
“He’s a civvy now,” Lieutenant Commander Gracie said.
“He can do anything he wants towards CPO Hoogwerf.
“The timing of it is too convenient.”
Meanwhile prosecutor Courtney Westphal said the complainant had “no need to save face” when he reported the alleged abuse after he left the navy in 2022.
“The complainant had nothing to gain and everything to lose,” she said.
“He has given evidence. He has lost friends over this.
“(He is) an honest and accurate witness who was then and now telling the truth.”
Responding to statements said during the trial regarding the complainant’s desire to be deployed despite the fact he would still be working with Hoogwerf, Ms Westphal said it was “possible for two things to be true at the same time”.
The prosecutor also said the allegations against Hoogwerf were “not uncomplicated”.
“The allegations are serious — bullying in the workplace, sexual assault and assaulting a subordinate,” she said.
In his closing arguments, Hoogwerf’s lawyer Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Gracie said the prosecution’s case almost entirely relied on the complainant’s testimony.
The lawyer said to find the complainant to be an honest and reliable witness would go against all other evidence presented at trial.
“There was not one eyewitness to any of the incidents,” he said.
He said the only additional evidence mentioned during the trial related to these allegations was when one sailor told the court he saw Hoogwerf give the complainant “a jovial pat”.
Lieutenant Commander Gracie also took issue with Flight Lieutenant Westphal’s assertion that two things could be true at the same time.
“You can’t want (be deployed) and not want to go (on deployment),” he said.
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