A female US Navy sailor has accused a Royal Navy sailor of sexual assault after the pair had gone on a beer and margarita binge while they were stationed on the remote island of Diego Garcia. Leading Seaman Paul Morby allegedly made unwanted advances on the female sailor while they cuddled in bed.
According to the Daily Mail, the Bulford Military Court heard that the woman had invited the British sailor over to her room that afternoon after they met at a bar a few days prior to the incident. However, Morby did not turn up until 9:30 that evening drunk.
The 29-year-old Morby told the court Wednesday that he had about three beers and two strawberry-flavored margaritas before showing up to see the woman and allegedly had a shower in her bathroom. After which he had asked her to lie down with him. The woman said she felt numb and tense when Morby took off his shirt and his shorts, as he told her to calm down because it was just a penis.
“He went to the bed and kept asking me to come to the bed. I did eventually say yes and lay next to him on the bed,” the woman told the court. “Shortly after that he undid the button on my jeans and I was telling him I didn't want to have sex. He kept repeatedly asking me to take off my clothes.”
“And I kept repeatedly telling him no. Eventually, I realized he wasn't going to listen to me so I took off each article of clothing one by one,” she went on to narrate.
As the pair lay on the bed, the court heard, they continued to cuddle and talk and the female sailor said Morby then sexually assaulted her. She had shoved him off before running to the bathroom to lock herself in while screaming at him to leave her room.
Prosecuting lawyer William Peters said there had been sexualized flirting in their text messages and exchanged contact details. The woman, who was in her 20s told the court she had made it quite clear that time she did not want to have sex with him and had told him “no” for about 15 minutes.
Morby said he had sent the woman text messages the following day saying how terrible he felt for his antics that night, The female sailor later lodged a complaint against Morby and the case was transferred to the Royal Navy Police.
During an interview with the police, Morby confirmed he had gone to her room and the two had even gotten frisky in their underwear, claiming the woman had just stormed off for no reason. While in court, Morby denied both counts of sexual assaults he had been charged with.
“You don't have to do anything you don't want, just using you for spoonage,” – was the message he had sent her before heading over.
He denied putting his hands down her pants, as well as digitally penetrating her and performing oral sex on her. At that time, he said he had even waited for her to come out of the bathroom as he wanted to understand what set her off to have such an unusual reaction. Morby admitted to being “dickish” and felt ashamed of his actions and said he would not attempt to try the same thing again. He also told the court that the woman never made it clear what he had done wrong and how he had sincerely wanted to make amends.
“Afterwards she actively sought me out as you can see from the Facebook messages,” Morby added.
