Puckapunyal gunner Jermaine Schmidt to spend five years in jail after rape

The victim of a rape committed at a central Victorian army base is now “unable to be alone with males” and has had to change her career to be around fewer men.

The victim of a rape committed at a central Victorian army base is now “unable to be alone with males” and has had to change her career to be around fewer men.

Puckapunyal soldier Jermaine Schmidt was sentenced in County Court on Thursday for one count of sexual assault and one count of rape.

The court heard that in 2020, Schmidt, then aged 21, entered a fellow soldier’s quarters after a night of drinking and violated the then 18-year-old.

Schmidt, who was born in Darwin, was an Australian Army private billeted at Puckapunyal Barracks while completing a weapons training course.

On the night in question, the victim went out for dinner and drinks, ending up in an army base bar called ‘The Boozer’, where Schmidt was also drinking.

She returned home and had gone to sleep when Schmidt and another soldier knocked on her door, waking her to ask for cigarettes she didn’t have.

Later, she was woken again by Schmidt tapping her on the leg, having let himself in uninvited.

Schmidt asked the woman to let him stay, and she eventually relented, allowing him to sleep on top of the bed.

She woke up again to Schmidt running his hands under her shirt and his fingers down her leg.

The victim asked Schmidt to stop, which he did, after apologising.

She went back to sleep and was woken again by him digitally penetrating her.

“She had clearly not consented to your touching, and nor had she led you on in any way,”

Judge Paul Lacava said during sentencing.

“She had made her position quite clear: she was not interested in engaging in sexual acts with you at that time.

“I think you were drunk and failed to properly appreciate or understand the complainant’s rejection of your sexual advances.”

In his sentencing, Judge Lacava called it an “extremely strong prosecution case”.

“Whilst not physically harmed by you during the commission of these offences, the complainant has continued to suffer mentally because of what you did to her,” he said.

“She regularly thinks about what you did to her, describing how she has changed from being a socially outgoing person to someone who now feels sad, angry, upset, scared, lonely, worried, anxious, depressed, and stressed on a daily basis.

“She is now unable to be alone with males. In order to cope she was forced to change her career path into a role that was predominantly female dominant.”

Schmidt, now 23 years old, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with 92 days already served.