thedrifter
08-13-07, 09:03 AM
American marine in Ulster sex shame
Published: Monday 13, August 2007 - 07:30
By Sean O'Driscoll
A US Marine captain has been court-martialled for sexually assaulting two corporals and a sergeant during a drunken rampage in an Ulster hotel, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Captain Jonathan C Lee was convicted of assaulting the three men in their beds and in a jacuzzi at the Beech Hill Country House hotel in Londonderry during what was intended to be an educational trip to learn about the history of marines stationed in the city during World War II.
However, Lee's US lawyers are now appealing for two Derry women who were in the hotel rooms with the Marines to come forward with information in time for his appeal before the US Armed Forces Appeal Court.
The PSNI were never contacted about the 2004 incident, which was handled internally by the US Military.
In June, a lower military appeal court, which hears appeals for the navy and the marines, refused to allow a retrial based on new evidence obtained by a Belfast solicitor from a Derry woman named who was talking to the marines in the hotel.
Mr Lee's US lawyer, Brent Harvey, said that two other women who were with the marines in their hotel rooms have not come forward because they didn't want their families to know they were there.
A private detective hired by Mr Lee's legal team has been unable to find the two women, although both prosecution and defence lawyer accept that there were three Irish women with the marines in the hotel and the women had met Lee.
Captain Lee has been convicted of over-familiarity with marines of a different rank, burglary and indecent assault after the weekend trip to Derry.
The group stayed at the Beech Hill Country House Hotel, which was the Marine headquarters from 1942 to 1945. Lee assaulted three marines on the Friday and Sunday nights of the trip.
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals heard that one marine, identified as Corporal K, said that Captain Lee used his foot to rub up against the man's testicles during a late night jacuzzi session on the first night in the city.
Corporal K said he later warned Captain Lee: "Don't ever do it again or else I am going to kick your ass or kill you."
When he returned to his room he found Captain Lee "lying on the ground in between the two beds looking up at him," according to court documents.
Cpl K grabbed Lee by the arm and threw him out of the room.
Captain Lee later went to a room shared by four marine sergeants and began to talk about pornography.
A Sgt B passed out drunk. When he woke up he found Captain Lee "playing with my penis, like, stroking my penis."
Sgt B grabbed Lee by the throat and pushed him back, and Lee fled the room.
On the Sunday night, a Cpl M returned from a Derry club and went to his bedroom with a Derry woman.
He was lying on the bed with the woman with the lights out when he was " startled to discover (Lee) rubbing his chest and the lining of his boxers" .
Cpl M yelled and chased Lee out of the room and reported what happened to a Sgt Michael Hjelmstad.
Sgt Hjelmstad went to investigate and found Captain Lee trying to bring a drunk corporal into a hotel room. The corporal later complained that Captain Lee had tried to sexually assault him in a sauna when the corporal passed out from drinking.
The appeal court said that it found the evidence "highly credible" and that Captain Lee had been trying to satisfy his sexual desires.
Ellie
Published: Monday 13, August 2007 - 07:30
By Sean O'Driscoll
A US Marine captain has been court-martialled for sexually assaulting two corporals and a sergeant during a drunken rampage in an Ulster hotel, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Captain Jonathan C Lee was convicted of assaulting the three men in their beds and in a jacuzzi at the Beech Hill Country House hotel in Londonderry during what was intended to be an educational trip to learn about the history of marines stationed in the city during World War II.
However, Lee's US lawyers are now appealing for two Derry women who were in the hotel rooms with the Marines to come forward with information in time for his appeal before the US Armed Forces Appeal Court.
The PSNI were never contacted about the 2004 incident, which was handled internally by the US Military.
In June, a lower military appeal court, which hears appeals for the navy and the marines, refused to allow a retrial based on new evidence obtained by a Belfast solicitor from a Derry woman named who was talking to the marines in the hotel.
Mr Lee's US lawyer, Brent Harvey, said that two other women who were with the marines in their hotel rooms have not come forward because they didn't want their families to know they were there.
A private detective hired by Mr Lee's legal team has been unable to find the two women, although both prosecution and defence lawyer accept that there were three Irish women with the marines in the hotel and the women had met Lee.
Captain Lee has been convicted of over-familiarity with marines of a different rank, burglary and indecent assault after the weekend trip to Derry.
The group stayed at the Beech Hill Country House Hotel, which was the Marine headquarters from 1942 to 1945. Lee assaulted three marines on the Friday and Sunday nights of the trip.
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals heard that one marine, identified as Corporal K, said that Captain Lee used his foot to rub up against the man's testicles during a late night jacuzzi session on the first night in the city.
Corporal K said he later warned Captain Lee: "Don't ever do it again or else I am going to kick your ass or kill you."
When he returned to his room he found Captain Lee "lying on the ground in between the two beds looking up at him," according to court documents.
Cpl K grabbed Lee by the arm and threw him out of the room.
Captain Lee later went to a room shared by four marine sergeants and began to talk about pornography.
A Sgt B passed out drunk. When he woke up he found Captain Lee "playing with my penis, like, stroking my penis."
Sgt B grabbed Lee by the throat and pushed him back, and Lee fled the room.
On the Sunday night, a Cpl M returned from a Derry club and went to his bedroom with a Derry woman.
He was lying on the bed with the woman with the lights out when he was " startled to discover (Lee) rubbing his chest and the lining of his boxers" .
Cpl M yelled and chased Lee out of the room and reported what happened to a Sgt Michael Hjelmstad.
Sgt Hjelmstad went to investigate and found Captain Lee trying to bring a drunk corporal into a hotel room. The corporal later complained that Captain Lee had tried to sexually assault him in a sauna when the corporal passed out from drinking.
The appeal court said that it found the evidence "highly credible" and that Captain Lee had been trying to satisfy his sexual desires.
Ellie