Darwin soldier avoids jail for indecently assaulting vulnerable woman

A soldier who accused a man of “c*** blocking” him and then thrusted his body against a vulnerable woman lying on a mattress while she pleaded with him to stop, has been sentenced.

A Darwin soldier who repeatedly tried to force himself on a vulnerable woman while she pleaded with him to stop will not see the inside of a jail cell.

A DARWIN soldier who repeatedly tried to force himself on a vulnerable woman while she pleaded with him to stop will not see the inside of a jail cell.

Daniel Nicoli, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to indecent assault following the incident in July last year.

The court heard Nicoli met his 21-year-old victim, who was visiting a friend in Darwin at the time, during a night of drinking at the Sailing Club and in town.

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Chief Justice Michael Grant said the group went back to the woman’s friend’s house where she took an opioid painkiller and went to sleep while Nicoli argued with the woman’s friend’s partner, accusing him of “c*** blocking” him.

“The facts don’t otherwise go into the nature of that argument or the reasons for it,” he said.

“But if it was the case that the other man had reservations about your intentions and was uneasy about leaving his guest in your company, subsequent events show those concerns were well founded.”

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Despite his reservations, the other man eventually asked the victim to move from the main bedroom to the spare room where Nicoli was and she lay down on a mattress facing the wall and tried to go to sleep.

Nicoli proceeded to grope and kiss the woman, despite her repeated protests and eventually rolled her onto her back, climbed on top of her and started thrusting his body against hers.

Prosecutor Stephen Geary told the court the woman said, “Please stop, I don’t want to do this,” to which Nicoli replied, “I know I’m very full on but I can’t help myself”.

Nicoli was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended immediately, a punishment Chief Justice Grant said would send a message to him and “other young men”.

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“You and other young men must realise that this sort of insistent pestering of a woman for sex in the face of very clear indications that she’s not interested is not accepted by the community — it is not a seduction technique, Mr Nicoli, it is indecent assault,” he said.

“You and other young men must also realise that forcing your attentions on a woman affected by alcohol and drugs in the hope that she might yield by reason of her diminished capacity is both discreditable and it’s criminal.”