Former navy sailor jailed over drunken sex attack on teenager after night of drinking at Monsoons

A FORMER navy sailor has been jailed for indecently assaulting a teenager after a drunken night at Monsoons nightclub

Former navy sailor Terry Chambers, 24, has been jailed over a sex attack on a teenager after a night drinking at Monsoon's nightclub in Darwin

A FORMER navy sailor has been jailed for indecently assaulting a teenager after a drunken night at Monsoons nightclub.

Former Able Seaman Terry Chambers, 24, wept in the dock of the Supreme Court on Tuesday as Justice Judith Kelly sentenced him to serve 10 days of a one year and 10 month prison sentence.

Chambers admitted to indecently assaulting the 18-year-old victim on 18 September last year.

The victim was a friend of Chambers and his fiancee, and Justice Judith Kelly said the late night assault was a “particularly egregious breach of trust”.

Chambers and the 18-year-old, who cannot be identified, were among a group who went to the Mitchell St Nightclub.

Former navy sailor Terry Chambers, 24, has been jailed over a sex attack on a teenager after a night drinking at Monsoon's nightclub in Darwin

At one point during the night, the 18-year-old sent Chambers’s fiancee — who was not in Darwin — a text message saying she was “a mess” but that Chambers was looking after her.

The woman fell asleep in the spare room of Chambers’s Mitchell St apartment only for Chambers to go into the room, climb into bed, lift up her skirt and assault her.

Chambers, who had been in the navy for four years and had an unblemished service record, quit his job after being charged in what his lawyer, Peter Maley, described as “effectively jumping before he was pushed”.

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Chambers soon found work as a civilian contractor working on patrol boats based at HMAS Larrakeyah.

When the woman flinched Chambers stopped what he was doing and said “you’re just drunk”.

Justice Kelly said to Chambers: “Your gross breach of trust, quite understandably, has had a very significant impact on her, both emotionally and psychologically”.

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The woman, in a victim impact statement, said she has trouble sleeping, doesn’t feel safe anywhere, and had been treated for PTSD and depression.

Justice Kelly said a short stint in jail would drive home the message to Chambers and other would-be sex offenders that the community disapproves of sex attacks on women.

Terry Chambers, 24, pictured as a fresh-faced naval recruit, has been jailed for a drunken sex attack on an 18-year-old. Picture: Supplied/Facebook

Mr Maley had argued for Chambers to serve only a “rising of the court” sentence, which involved serving a symbolic period in custody in the court building.

But Justice Kelly said: “I do think that a short term of actual imprisonment is warranted given the seriousness of the offending”.

Chambers will also be banned from drinking for two years as part of his supervised suspended sentence.