Aussie soldier jailed for 22 years for rape of colleague

The serving ADF member hit his victim - who was a former colleague - with a bamboo stick from Bunnings approximately 5000 times. Warning: Graphic content

EXCLUSIVE

Warning: Graphic content

A serving ADF member has been jailed for 22 years after raping his former colleague and wife multiple times across a five-year period.

The Australian Army corporal, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced last week in the NSW District Court after being found guilty by a jury of one count of aggravated sexual assault, one count of sexually touching another person without consent and seven counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

The pair met while both working at the Holsworthy Army Barracks, with his wife later leaving the ADF.

The soldier cannot be named for legal reasons. Picture: Supplied

He was a serving member with the ADF for more than 20 years prior to his arrest. Picture: Supplied

Before his arrest in 2021, the corporal had served in the army for more than 20 years and had been deployed internationally on multiple occasions.

Court documents obtained by news.com.au revealed how the victim felt “trapped” and “unable to leave the relationship” from early on in their relationship.

“He was financially controlling and controlling in a medical sense repeatedly telling her he had saved her life multiple times in an attempt to manipulate and/or force the complainant to do what he wanted sexually,” police wrote in the court documents.

“If the complainant did not do what he wanted, he would punish her physically and sexually. The punishments escalated over time.

“This resulted in the complainant, at times, acquiescing to the accused’s demands to keep him happy, fearing that the accused would leave her and the children if she did not go along with him.”

The couple would move around Australia each year for his postings along with their children.

In an impact statement to the court, the victim said she had been “completely shattered” as a result of their 15 year relationship.

“I was manipulated into doing things I didn’t want to do, I had to change who I was yet to keep him happy,” she told the court in a victim impact statement.

“The moment I said no or stop I was abused more as a punishment. I felt nothing in the end. I may as well had been dead.

“My life was destroyed by him.”

The victim and the corporal eventually separated in April 2021.

The pair met while both working at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney's south-west. Picture: Google

“I am one of the lucky ones who was able to finally escape the abuse and control. So many more aren’t,” she wrote in the statement.

Court documents revealed that at various times the victim was left with red indentations and bruises on her wrists, injuries to her genitalia and injuries to her eyes as a result of the corporal’s assault.

In one incident, the corporal bought a bamboo stick from Bunnings in April 2020.

He later struck the victim on the buttocks as “punishment” approximately 5000 times with the stick.

The court documents stated that in 2017, the corporal also had sexual intercourse with the victim while she was having a medical episode, which had caused her to pass out.

In another incident, the army member failed to stop despite the victim “yelling and crying” in pain, telling his wife afterwards: “In the bedroom, it’s my rules.”

According to court documents, the soldier, who is also a volunteer for the SES, first reported his arrest to an ADF chaplain on April 28, 2021.

“I got arrested and charged for assaulting [the victim]. I haven’t got a clue what’s going on,” he told the Chaplain.

He was sentenced to 22 years prison, with a non-parole period of 14-and-a-half years.

He will be eligible for parole on January 1, 2039.

The Australian Defence Force was contacted for comment.