US Marine Anthony Long found not guilty of rape in three-day Supreme Court trial
An American Marine thanked God after being cleared of allegations he raped a hungover woman at a Darwin defence base.
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An American Marine has been cleared of allegations he raped a hungover woman while staying at Darwin’s Robertson Barracks.
Anthony Long took deep breaths as he waited anxiously in the Supreme Court docks for his fate to be decided on Thursday afternoon.
The Darwin jury declared in a unanimous verdict that Mr Long was not guilty to the single charge of having sexual intercourse without consent.
Rocking forward the young soldier let out a sigh of relief before signing the cross.
Over the three-day hearing, the jury heard the then 24-year-old had sex with a woman following a boozy pub crawl in Mitchell St in late 2023.
The jury heard the next day the hungover woman initially rejected his sexual advances as she was feeling sick.
However five minutes later, Mr Long again initiated foreplay and they then had sex.
Mr Long told the jury the woman did not say anything, but rolled on her back and opened her legs.
“It was definitely consensual,” he said on Wednesday.
“Her body language was showing it time and time again.
“During the entire time of us having sex, she never said no, she never tried to push away, she never showed any reason for me to believe that she was not wanting it.”
Prosecutor Rhiannon McGlinn tried to argue the woman ‘froze’ and her “free and voluntary agreement” to consent to sex was not established.
Ms McGlinn alleged the hungover woman’s “no” from earlier followed by her silence meant she was not consenting to Mr Long’s second round of sexual advances.
However the jury of nine men and three women all ruled this could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
As he walked out of the Supreme Court a free man, Mr Long was asked if he would be heading back to America.
“I’ll be resuming my regular duties,” the soldier said.
“Praise be to God.”
US Marine Anthony Long claims woman’s ‘body language’ gave him consent
An American Marine claimed a woman’s ‘body language’ gave him permission for sex, despite her telling him “no” and that she was too hungover just moments before.
Anthony Long has pleaded not guilty to having sexual intercourse without consent, maintaining he did not rape a woman the morning after a boozy pub crawl in Mitchell St in late 2023.
On Wednesday the American took to the stand in the Supreme Court in Darwin to argue their sexual encounter at Robertson Barracks in late 2023 was entirely consensual, as “she never said no, she never tried to push away”.
Mr Long told the jury that he and the woman were naked in a bed on the Defence Base when he first attempted to initiate sex.
“The first time she did tell me ‘no’, she was ill and it was a rough night before … so we stopped,” Mr Long said.
Mr Long said while he had not drunk much the night before, he did not doubt the woman was hungover as she had “projectile vomited” in the Uber home.
The jury heard the hungover woman told him: “I can’t move for a little bit, I just need to lay and close my eyes and go back to sleep”.
“No. I’m feeling sick. If I move I’ll vomit,” she allegedly said.
Prosecutor Rhiannon McGlinn pointed out that despite the woman clearly telling him “no” mere moments before, the marine initiated sex again.
Mr Long agreed he had no reason to believe she had suddenly recovered from her hangover in the five minutes since his last attempt, but said during his second attempt at foreplay “verbally she didn’t say anything.”
“Not a word,” he said.
Mr Long maintained that she opened her legs, manoeuvred her hips and put her arm on his back, while the alleged victim maintained the 24-year-old soldier pushed her legs apart.
“She was unwavering that she did not move … she lay there unmoving, non verbal, frozen,” Ms McGlinn said.
“You wanted to have sex and you didn’t care how she was feeling in that moment.”
But Mr Long rejected the accusation that he was reckless, stating: “It was definitely consensual”.
“Her body language was showing it time and time again,” he said.
“During the entire time of us having sex, she never said no, she never tried to push away, she never showed any reason for me to believe that she was not wanting it.”
However Ms McGlinn argued the explicit “no” from minutes earlier was still in effect.
Ms McGlinn said this was a huge event for the young woman to process, making “distressed” disclosures with friends and family over the next four days — all of whom gave evidence during the trial.
But Defence Barrister Peter Maley accused the woman of “retrospectively withdrawing consent” saying she had “gone into victim mode”.
Mr Maley said in her evidence the woman told the jury she “allowed” Mr Long to have sex with her.
“If the bar gets this low for a rape case like this, then we are all in trouble,” he said to the jury of nine men and three women.
“Sometimes a jury needs to stand up to political correctness and say ‘enough is enough’.”
Justice Meredith Huntingford will continue to give her directions to the jury on Thursday, which will then retire to consider its verdict.
US Marine Anthony Long faces five-day Robertson Barracks rape trial
A woman who was allegedly raped by an American Marine at a Top End army base told investigators she was on the verge of vomiting when he ‘forced himself’ on her.
Anthony Long appeared in the Supreme Court in Darwin on Monday to plead not guilty to having sexual intercourse without consent at the Robertson Barracks in late 2023.
It was alleged that the then 24-year-old American soldier raped a woman after she told him she was too hungover to have sex.
Prosecutor Rhiannon McGlinn told the jury that the night before the alleged sexual assault, Mr Long and the woman were on a Mitchell St pub crawl.
Ms McGlinn said after a night of drinking they returned to the army base, with his alleged victim so intoxicated she threw up in the Uber.
Ms McGlinn said they fell asleep in the same bed, and when she woke up she was feeling the effects of the night before.
“When she woke up she felt very sick, she was hungover. The room was spinning,” Ms McGlinn said.
The jury heard that the next thing she felt was Mr Long touching her breasts and genitals.
“No I’m not feeling well. If I move I’ll vomit,” she allegedly told him.
Ms McGlinn said while he backed off “for a little bit”, it was alleged that soon after she felt him touching her again, before he “forced himself on her”.
Ms McGlinn alleged the alleged victim kept her eyes closed and froze during the alleged assault.
“She could hear the accused laughing,” Ms McGlinn said.
Ms McGlinn said under the law, consent was defined as “free and voluntary agreement”, which she argued the woman had not given.
“A person is not to be regarded as having consented to an act of sexual intercourse only because they did not protest or physically resist,” she said.
Over the next four days the alleged victim made disclosures to her mother and friends, before going to NT Police.
In a brief address to the jury, defence barrister Peter Maley said the trial would boil down to a single factor: “the issue of consent”.
Mr Maley claimed the woman told police “at the time I thought it was OK”.
“It is not enough to say in hindsight, in retrospect ‘I’ve changed my mind’,” he said.
“You can’t retrospectively withdraw your consent.”
It is expected across the five-day trial the jury will hear from more than a dozen witnesses, including evidence from the alleged victim herself.
Justice Meredith Huntingford told the jury of nine men and three women they must “approach the matter with a completely unbiased and impartial mind”.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
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