The Times of London: Soldiers 'raped corporal after drinkng session

A woman slodier was discovered naked and crying on the floor after a night of heavy drinking during which two colleagues took turns to rape her, a court martial was told yesterday.

Corporal Elle-Marie Ellement, then 28, was drunk and struggling to keep her balance when she was found in a corridor at an army base in Germany.

“This young woman was entirely naked apart from a long cardigan that she was carrying,“ Sarah Whitehouse, for the prosecution, said. “Her feet were muddy and she was crying.“

Thomas Fulton and Jeremy Jones, with whom she had spent the evening drinking in the corporals' mess, are accused of raping her in the early hours of November 20, 2009. Mr Jones admit that both men had sex with her, but claims that she consented.

Corporal Ellement died two yars after the alleged assault, Ms Whitehouse told the panel of senior military officers and civil servants. The circumstances of her death were not relevant to their task, she said.

Instead, her testimony came posthumously, in the form of a lengthy video interview with military police investigators the day after the alleged rape. She described a night of heavy drinking and sexual banter in the mess, during which she downed beer, shots of spirits and a potent cocktail.

It is unclear whether Corporal Ellement or Mr Jones poured the cocktail, which contained four to five shots of vodka, one to two shots of curaçao, topped up with Red Bull, the court heard. Corporal Ellement said she was “merry, not drunk“ but appeared not to know the alcohol content of the cocktail, saying that it contained only one shot of vodka.

Ms Whitehouse said that others had seen the three at the bar flirting and overhead talk of a threesome. Corporal Ellement recalled the same conversation, but took it as just banter. “Even the thought of a threesome makes me physically sick,“ she said. “I can be a bit of a prude.“

As the evening progressed, Corporal Ellement's memory grew hazier. She recalled coming to on a bed in Mr Jones's room, with Mr Fulton pulling off her clothes. She did not know how she had come to be in the room

“The next thing I can remember is that Tom was on top of me and I was like 'no, it is really hurting',“ she said.  “The last thing I remember is Jez [Mr Jones] grabbing my breasts. Then I have a massive memory block and I can't remember anything.“

Corporal Ellement told her rescuers that she had been coerced. “I didn't want it. He tried to have sex with me,“ Corporal Kelly Broadhurst heard her say, according to Ms Whitehouse. “She said he had sex with her and she said 'stop' but he carried on for ten minutes.“

The men were arrested the next day. Mr Fulton declined to comment while Mr Jones admitted to consensual sex.

Corporal Ellement said she had no memory of having sex with him. In the video, her hand is bandaged where she said it had been contorted by the pressure of Mr Fulton's grasp as he held her down. The men deny rape charges at the court martial in Bulford, near Salisbury, Wiltshire. The case continues.


Fazit: Unter Alkoholeinfluss gestaltet sich Sex oft nicht einvernehmlich.