Royal Navy Engineer has been cleared after he sexually assaulted a female colleague at a HMS Defender party.
The woman claimed Leading Engineering Technician Danny Holmes, 31, ‘couldn’t keep his hands to himself’ at the celebratory evening aboard the Type 45 warship during a deployment to the Gulf.
However, LET Holmes claimed she was ‘humiliated.’ He said that when she was caught stealing a glass of wine, Holmes insisted that he had not touched his female colleague.
Two counts of sexual assault through touching were dismissed by Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire.
HMS Defender’s crew was celebrating the incident and enjoyed a meal, the court heard. However, the HMS Defender’s female crew entered the mess room and claimed that they had been touched.
LET Danny Holmes pictured at Bulford Military Court. Here he was acquitted from two counts of sexual abuse by touching
Later on in the evening, he attempted to resolve the situation with the ‘very drunk’ woman, but was instead accused of groping her bottom.
LET Holmes however, stated to the court that the young lady had been ‘annoyed” after he admitted taking the drink. He initially denied the accusation.
She claimed that after she was caught, she felt so ashamed she made up the allegations.
Other witnesses said it seemed as though she were ‘taking her anger out’ on LET Holmes, who has served in the Navy for 13 years.
The judge heard him say: “I knew nothing.” [the alleged victim] as another member of the ships’ company; we had no friendship or relationship.
“I bought two bottles of wine at the bar after having a few tinnies. I put it in the middle mess on the way to the toilet, and when I came back it wasn’t there.
“I saw” [the alleged victim]I was still drinking it. She said it wasn’t my bottle.
‘When I pointed out she couldn’t have just bought it because half had already been drunk, she sort of admitted it. It was annoying.
LET Holmes stated that he had tried to resolve the matter with his colleague but was unsuccessful.
LET Holmes claimed that the humiliated woman fabricated these allegations after being caught stealing a glass of wine. He insisted that he never touched his colleague.
HMS Defender is the Type 45 destroyer Royal Navy HMS Defender. It was seen arriving in Odessa (Black Sea) on June 18.
He said he later saw her get ‘upset’ but ‘didn’t know’ what about, and was told by a colleague of the allegations made against him when he returned to his cabin.
“I was shocked and I wasn’t sure how to interpret it,” the engineer said.
Further witnesses told the court martial the woman was drunk to the point of ‘hysterics’.
ET Erin Eitkin said: ‘She [the alleged victim]Her words were blurred… her eyes were watery. [and]She smelled strong of alcohol, and she was moving around when she spoke to me.
‘At one stage she was not making any sense and I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“She never said anything about what happened or not.”
A military personnel panel deliberated nearly two hours and found LET Holmes innocent of both the charges.