A drunken sergeant has been dismissed from the army after he put his hand up a female soldier’s dress and groped her bottom.
Staff Sergeant Adam Porter spotted the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - in a knee length dress and remarked: 'You're going to get me into trouble.'
He later told the shocked woman 'it feels nice doesn't it' as his hand 'disappeared' up her leg, pinching her left buttock.
SSgt Porter was convicted at Bulford Military Court, Wilts following a two day trial, and handed a three year community service order for the sexual assault. He was also ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.
A judge told him his actions were ‘a stupid drunken moment’ in which he broke the trust of those serving in the forces.
The incident took place at a pub as soldiers from the regiment engulfed in a post-covid work celebration, where a drunk SSgt Porter touched the complainant in a sexual way without her consent.
SSgt approached and stood next to the woman at the bar as a round of drinks was bought. The court heard that shortly after he put his hand under her skirt, onto her buttock, squeezed and said words to the effect of 'feels nice doesn't it.’ SSgt, who is a father of four and much more senior than the woman soldier, told her, 'I shouldn't have done that should I?’
The woman soldier told the court she had work the next day so 'didn't want to get too drunk' that evening. She said: "It was at the bar when we were having shots. I spoke to SSgt Porter before which was a normal conversation.
"Then he was pointing at a few of the females there and saying 'I'm going to finger them'. He was drunk. He was slurring his words, staggering, and not acting in character.
"Then SSgt Porter said 'I'm going to fuck you' [to me]. He said 'you're going to get me into trouble'. I think it was in a flirty way... that I needed to stay away from him."
"As everybody went away it was just me and SSgt Porter at the bar stood shoulder to shoulder.
"I was facing the bar and he put his hand up my dress. Then I felt him squeeze my bum and then he took his hand away.
"I recall him smirking while he did it."
She recalled that SSgt Porter squeezed her left buttock for 'two or three seconds' with his right hand.
She added "it was a skin on skin contact."
"He pulled his hand away and said 'it feels nice that doesn't it'.
"Two seconds later he quickly went into saying 'I shouldn't have done that should I?' - because he knew it was wrong.
"I was a bit shocked and didn't know what to do."
However, a formal complaint wasn’t raised until three months later when one of her friends told a senior officer.
The woman soldier told the court she didn’t complain sooner because she didn’t trust her chair of command, saying they were mostly male friends and were ‘cliquey.’
Porter's victim said that the senior staff 'clique' made it difficult to know 'what to do and who to trust,' after the incident, in a victim impact statement read to the court.
SSgt Porter, who has one daughter with his partner, and three from their previous relationships, is unable to remember any contact between him and the complaint that evening, insisting it hadn’t happened.
The senior soldier had drunk a bottle of white wine, several tequila shots and cracked open a bottle of port, admitting he was 'well on his way' after the shots.
SSgt Porter was found guilty of sexual assault after the board deliberated for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Judge Advocate General Darren Reed said: "Service personnel have little choice around where, and with whom they serve.
"Sexual offending undermines the bonds of trust between those who serve together.
"You put your hands up the dress of a subordinate.
"In that stupid drunken moment you undermined the standards expected of you."
Porter is set to complete 35 sex offenders rehabilitation sessions as well as 80 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.
