British Army Gurkha is CLEARED of sexually assaulting a female colleague when he pretended to be another soldier she’d had sex with the week before – after he claimed he was so drunk he couldn’t remember what happened
- Rifleman Sujan Gurung allegedly pretended to be another soldier
- Court heard he ‘took advantage’ of the female soldier’s confusion in the dark
- Rifleman Gurung was acquitted of three counts of sexual assault
A British Army Gurkha was today acquitted of sexually assaulting a female colleague at Sandhurst military academy, after claiming he was so drunk he could not remember what happened, a court martial heard.
Rifleman Sujan Gurung allegedly woke the woman by banging on her bedroom door in the early hours of the morning and pretended to be another Gurkha she had had sex with a week before.
The court heard he ‘took advantage’ of the female soldier’s confusion in the dark room before she could realise it was a different man.
She told police she could not tell whether it was a different person at first because ‘they are all Gurkhas and they all look the same’.
But today Rifleman Gurung, who claimed he could not remember touching her because he was drunk on German drink Jägermeister at the time, wept as he was acquitted of three counts of sexual assault at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire.
British Army Gurkha Rifleman Sujan Gurung was today acquitted of sexually assaulting a female colleague at Sandhurst military academy, after claiming he was so drunk he could not remember what happened, a court martial heard
Judge Advocate Jane England interrupted his weeping to say: ‘Rifleman Gurung, you’ve been acquitted. Some may say you’re relatively content with that.
‘But you got very drunk indeed and you really don’t know what you did, do you?
‘I hope that’s a lesson to you. You can’t get drunk and go into other people’s rooms, in particular female’s rooms.’
The three-day trial heard allegations Rifleman Gurung had touched her sexually and put her hand on his penis.
The court heard the female officer had saved the previous Gurkha’s number in her phone as ‘Gurkha 1’ and while he was in her room said she would ring it, at which point ‘it became clear to her he was not the same man’.
After he left, she told her friends what had happened and also called ‘Gurkha 1’ to see if he had come to her room that night and he told her it was not him.
The female soldier told Royal Military Police she was ‘confused’ and initially thought Rifleman Gurung must have been the other Gurkha she had slept with before because it was dark in her room and ‘they all look the same’.
Rifleman Gurung allegedly woke the woman by banging on her bedroom door in the early hours of the morning and pretended to be another Gurkha she had had sex with a week before
She told the court she ‘didn’t want to kick off’ after he started kissing her in case it was the same Gurkha.
But when Rifleman Gurung started impersonating the other man she said she could tell by his accent that it was a different man.
She said: ‘He asked me if I remembered him from the weekend before. The way that he was talking, he was pretending to be that gentleman from before.’
Married Rifleman Gurung, who joined the British Army in 2017 and served in Afghanistan, told the court ‘I’m not sure exactly how much I drank, but I had a lot’.
Assisted by a Nepalese interpreter, he said his memory became ‘hazy at this point’ but remembers knocking on a door and a woman answering.
The soldier, a member of support staff at the world famous Royal Military Academy, said he could remember sitting on her bed with her and talking, with one had holding a cup and the other hand gesturing as he talked.
Asked if he had kissed her or touched her inappropriately in any way, Rifleman Gurung said he had not as far as he could remember, but accepted he might have touched her breast accidentally while gesturing with his hand.
The court heard she drank some beer the next day and went to confront the Gurkhas about the incident to find out who it was.
Matthew Bolt, defending Rifleman Gurung, suggested the female soldier had been ‘exaggerating’ the encounter, because she was worried about getting into trouble for her actions the day after.
He said: ‘In fearing the repercussions you exaggerated what happened… because you wanted to protect yourself.’
The female soldier adamantly denied this.
Rifleman Gurung, of 1 Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles, was cleared of all charges following deliberations that lasted almost three hours.
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