Mitchell Greene: ADF captain acquitted of groping female Private’s bum
Australian Defence Force captain Mitchell Greene was found not guilty of groping a female private on her buttocks in a case of mistaken identity
Canberra Star
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An Australian Defence Force captain has been acquitted of all charges relating to the inappropriate touching of a female private while on base in Townsville.
Captain Mitchell Greene, who was accused of touching the woman’s buttocks while in line for a vending machine after returning from a night out, was charged with one count of an act of indecency without consent, with a back up charge of assaulting a subordinate.
He pleaded not guilty to both charges when he first appeared at the Defence Force Magistrates Court in Canberra via video link from Darwin on Monday.
Defence Force Magistrate Group Captain Scott Geeves found Greene not guilty of both charges, citing reasonable doubt.
The court heard the defendant and the complainant both went out socialising in Townsvile on the night of June 15 with their separate friendship groups.
Greene and the complainant both ended up at the Mad Cow Tavern and left the bar together with a group of ADF members who walked to McDonald’s together to take a taxi home to the RAAF base in Townsville.
Apart from minimal interaction on base, the court heard the defendant and complainant were not well known to each other.
After returning to base Green was alleged to have touched the complainant’s buttocks while the pair were waiting in line at the vending machine.
The complainant told the court Greene uttered “my bad, sorry wrong person” after the incident.
One witness said the Greene drew a circle with his hands on the complainant’s buttocks
Greene and another female ADF member, who looked similar to the complainant, had socialised that night and shared a kiss.
Both the second female ADF member and the complainant had similar long dark hair and were both wearing black skirts or dresses at the same length.
Prosecution officers argued the second ADF member and the complainant had different body shapes and if Greene was familiar with the second woman he should have been able to tell them apart.
In sentencing, Group Captain Geeves rejected this statement and said the women looked “remarkably similar” from behind.
Group Captain Geeves also said CCTV evidence from the base proved there was poor lighting near the vending machine and said a reasonable person who wasn’t intoxicated could have made the same mistake.
“I find (Greene) was genuinely mistaken” he said.
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