Army intelligence corporal is cleared of sexually assaulting female colleague by slapping her bottom as she bent over after claiming it was just ‘banter’
- British Army corporal has been cleared of sexually assaulting a female colleague
- Wayne Parker, 39, smacked the woman’s bottom as she leaned over a pool table
- He explained his action was a ‘moment of drunken insanity’ and ‘wasn’t sexual’
- After a four-day trial, board members took just one hour to acquit Cpl Parker
A British Army intelligence corporal has been cleared of sexually assaulting a female colleague by slapping her bottom as she bent over after claiming it was just ‘banter’.
Corporal Wayne Parker, who was ‘pretty inebriated’ when he smacked her backside as she bent over a pool table at a St Patrick’s day celebration, told a court martial he had simply done it in a ‘jokey’ manner.
The 39-year-old explained his actions as a ‘moment of drunken insanity’ – reasoning it ‘wasn’t specifically meant for her’, it wasn’t sexual and ‘anyone’ could have been on the receiving end.
After a four-day trial at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire, board members took just one hour to find Cpl Parker, a Royal Logistics Corps soldier attached to British Military Intelligence, not guilty of sexual assault.
Corporal Wayne Parker, 39, pictured outside Bulford Military Court Centre in Wiltshire, has been cleared of sexual assault after slapping a female colleague’s bottom
The court had previously heard how a ‘handsy’ Cpl Parker made the woman feel ‘uncomfortable’ throughout the evening, having to be ‘shepherded’ away from him by friends.
As the female soldier was leaning over the pool table to try to ‘put off her friend,’ who was taking his shot, she felt a ‘forceful slap’ to her bottom which ‘stung’, Bulford Military Court, Wilts, heard.
The trial heard Cpl Parker said ‘stop being naughty’ as he slapped the younger soldier, but he disputed this.
Defending, Kellie Enever, said the slap was not sexual and said when interviewed by service police, Cpl Parker admitted the slap straight away – but denied any sexual motive.
‘He didn’t deny it or dance around it. He accepted he assaulted her, he didn’t accept sexually assaulting her,’ she said.
Parker denied his actions were sexual and insisted it was drunken ‘banter’ at the St Patrick’s Day party
‘Slapping someone on the bottom is not sexual, per se. Ultimately, slapping someone on the bottom forms an assault, it does not make it sexual assault.
‘It is right he slapped her on the bottom, everyone agrees. Did it matter it was [the complainant]? It could have been anyone.’
Giving evidence Cpl Parker, who was ‘pretty inebriated’, had justified his actions as having been ‘jokey’ and done in a ‘non-sexual’ manner.
Cpl Parker had been new to the mess at Tidworth Barracks, Wilts.
The court heard he had been drinking since 5.00pm on St Patrick’s Day before the party in a converted conference room and could ‘barely walk.’
Later that evening, the female soldier was playing pool with two friends.
The woman told the court: ‘I was playing pool with two others.
‘He was lining up a shot [and] I was leaning over with my head in my hands trying to put him off as a joke.
‘I felt a forceful slap on my right cheek – it was flat palmed and it stung afterwards.’
Cpl Parker was cleared of the single charge of sexual assault.
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