FED:Tears and anger punctuate spanking hearing

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-2011
FED:Tears and anger punctuate spanking hearing

By Katina Curtis

CANBERRA, Dec 1 AAP - The female junior sailor who has accused a naval officer of spanking
her repeatedly broke down in tears and yelled "It happened!" during cross-examination.

Lieutenant Commander John Alan Jones has pleaded not guilty to 23 charges relating
to nine alleged incidents of indecency between February 1 and October 20, 2010.

Five of those incidents allegedly involve him smacking the sailor's bottom.

The defence counsel's cross-examination of the sailor, who cannot be named, had to
be halted several times on Thursday when she broke down in tears.

She repeatedly shouted "It happened!" during counsel Lieutenant Commander Alister Abadee's
questioning.

The sailor was giving evidence via video link to a court martial in Canberra, as required
by ACT law in cases involving allegations of sexual misconduct.

Lieutenant Commander Abadee questioned her about inconsistencies between evidence she
gave on Wednesday and the first witness statement she made in November 2010.

"Now as time goes on, I can remember more and more and more clear," the sailor told
the court martial.

She agreed with the defence counsel's suggestion she had relied emotionally on Jones,
especially after her grandmother died in August 2010.

But several times, when Lieutenant Commander Abadee suggested she had allowed Jones
to smack her because she thought he could use his power and rank to help her, she told
the court martial she had never thought of it that way.

"He made me believe that I could trust him, he was like a father to me," she said.

Defence counsel asked the female sailor whether seven of the nine alleged incidents
actually did occur. Each time she insisted they did.

Lieutenant Commander Abadee suggested the sailor had consented to or allowed the other
two alleged incidents to happen.

The sailor repeated her evidence from Wednesday, that she had been scared of Jones.

She said she didn't tell anybody about the allegations because she was embarrassed and ashamed.

She told the court she still had nightmares about what she says Jones did to her.

"These things pounce up in my head ... it's like a picture in my head," she told the
court martial.

"I nearly took my life because of these things."

Earlier on Thursday, the court martial heard a secret recording the sailor made in
November 2010 of a conversation between her and Jones.

In the recording, the court martial heard the sailor telling Jones she was stressed
about the alleged smacking.

He told her it was for her own benefit.

"It wasn't so much that I wanted you naked, it was more a test to see how obedient
and compliant you were going to be," he told her.

"Try and put it out of your mind and move forward."

The court martial also heard the sailor had been offered a job in late 2010 as an executive
assistant to a man named Don Walker.

"The other part of it was he wants ... an heir, like a child," she told the court martial.

"He promised me that he'd look after me and give me about a million dollars."

The junior sailor, who is still a member of the navy, said she discussed the job application
and all it entailed with Jones.

The prosecutor had sought to have Mr Walker's name suppressed.

But Judge Advocate Jennifer Woodward said because his name was included in witness
statements given to defence counsel, she would not suppress his identity.

The hearing continues on Friday.

AAP klc/klm/sn/de

KEYWORD: LEGAL: JONES WRAP

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