Darwin soldier Raphael Muranty pleads guilty to supplying drugs and booze to children

A soldier who had sex with a 14-year-old girl after giving her alcohol and MDMA has walked free from court.

A Darwin soldier who plied young girls with drugs and booze before having sex with a 14-year-old has walked free without a conviction.

Raphael Muranty, 22, appeared in the Supreme Court in Darwin to plead guilty to supplying two girls with MDMA and beer in his mate’s Woodroffe home.

The court heard the then 20-year-old serving Defence member was invited over to “have some drinks and hang out with some girls”on the night of Thursday September 10, 2020.

His friend, an 18-year-old fellow soldier, told Muranty he had met the girls over Instagram and had sex with one of them the night before.

Muranty rocked up at the Palmerston home with a carton of full-strength beer in tow, adding it to the 18-year-old’s collection of vodka and spirits.

Former Darwin soldier Raphael Muranty, 22, appeared in the Supreme Court in Darwin to plead guilty to supplying a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old girl with MDMA and beer.

The soldiers met the 14-year-old and a 15-year-old girl near the Rydges Hotel, Palmerston.

Both girls told Muranty they were 16-years-old, the age of consent in the Territory.

The group returned to the Woodroffe home for the private party, and at one point the girls suggested they take MDMA.

Muranty drove to a nearby ATM to withdraw $60 so the young girls could buy drugs from a contact they knew.

The two girls took a capsule of MDMA while the serving soldiers continued to drink.

Muranty had consensual sex with the 14-year-old girl, while his friend slept with the 15-year-old.

“At all relevant times my client thought that these young women were at least 16 years of age,” defence lawyer Matthew Hubber said.

“(He) thought everything was above board.”

Two days later the 14-year-old went to Palmerston Hospital, and in February the serving soldier was arrested.

Crown prosector Marty Aust presented a statement from the 14-year-old to Judge Stephen Southwood, but said it was “irrelevant”.

“At least the victim feels that she has been heard, and (shows) the flow-on effects from the choices she made on that night,” Mr Aust said.

Former Darwin soldier Raphael Muranty, 22, appeared in the Supreme Court in Darwin to plead guilty to supplying a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old girl with MDMA and beer.

Mr Hubber said the 22-year-old who trained in Wagga Wagga before moving to Robertson Barracks, had been kicked out of the Defence force.

“It is hard to fathom somebody who has suffered more extra-curial punishments, than to lose a career,” Mr Hubber said.

“It’s the only one he had ever hoped and imagined he would be involved in.”

The young man now works as a warehouse employee and bartender at a Sydney RSL.

Judge Southwood asked why Muranty had spent more than 10 months in prison on remand for the supply of drugs and alcohol to minors.

“I simply have no answer. It was a matter of grave concern to myself and my learned friend,” Mr Aust admitted.

“To the charges he’s pleaded he would not have ever been serving that length of imprisonment had this been dealt with in a more efficient way.”

Justice Southwood said the maximum penalty for supplying a child with drugs was life in prison, while the alcohol offence carried a further two years in prison.

Justice Southwood found him guilty, but did not record a conviction, and placed him on a 12-month good behaviour bond.