British Army Gurkha who tried to drag cleaner into a toilet cubicle for sex is convicted of sexual assault
A British Army Gurkha has been locked up after he was convicted of sexual assault for repeatedly pestering a cleaner for a kiss and then trying to drag her into a toilet cubicle for sex. Rifleman Tarahang Rai waited in the toilet block and begged the woman for a kiss each time she returned to do her job, a court martial heard.
When she rejected his advances, the 26 year old soldier hid in a cubicle before grabbing her by the wrists, asking her for sex and trying to drag her inside. He made the unwanted advances on two occasions before she went to try to clean the toilets for a third time, thinking he had left when he was actually hiding in the cubicle.
She told the court Rfn Rai did not let go of her hands until she threatened to shout for help. Rfn Rai denied assaulting the cleaner, claiming she came onto him and made up the allegation after he turned down her advances.
But he was found guilty following a trial at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, and has now been sentenced to six months at the Military Corrective Training centre in Colchester, Essex. Rfn Rai, of the 2 Royal Gurkha Rifles, was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.
The trial heard the woman was cleaning on the Tuker Lines base in Brunei at the time. Prosecuting, William Peters said: “The female cleaner encountered Rfn Rai on three occasions within the men’s toilet that it was her job to clean.
“On the first two occasions he made suggestive comments to her and asked for a kiss and on the third and final occasion he actually grabbed hold of her and tried to pull her into the cubicle having again asked her for a kiss." Mr Peters told the court the female cleaner first went to the men’s toilet block to wash some mugs and was met with silence after calling out to check there was no one inside.
After entering the block, she found Rfn Rai who asked her to kiss him. The cleaner left to carry out other cleaning duties and returned to the toilets later only to find Rfn Rai still waiting inside.
On the third occasion, the woman called out again to no response but was shocked when Rfn Rai appeared from behind a partially closed cubicle door, the court heard. Mr Peters said: "He emerged and and continued where he left off, harassing her, but took it a stage further and grabbed hold of her forcefully and tried to pull her to the toilet.
After a relatively short time, she was able to push him off.” The cleaner said it was ‘painful’ when Rfn Rai grabbed her wrists and she was ‘scared’ of losing her job if she made a fuss.
She said: "He asked me to kiss him and then wanted to do a bad thing. I wanted to scream but I did not want to create any trouble at the time because I was scared of losing my job.
"I rejected him politely because I know the Army is more powerful than a weak woman. I said ‘please leave me alone'... he said ‘just a couple of minutes, just for a few minutes’.
"I tried to get out but he wouldn't let me go. I said 'just let me go, just let me go', he said 'no'.
"He asked for sex... I told him I wasn't really interested. I was very scared. I tried to calm down myself [and tried] not to panic. He was forcing me to kiss him, I told him let me go or I would shout.
"Once I told him I would shout he [let go of] my hands." After breaking free from Rfn Rai’s 'rough' grip and leaving the toilets, the woman reported the incident to her boss.
The court dismissed Rfn Rai's defence that the cleaner had come on to him by calling him 'cute' and that she filed the complaint because she was upset at how he had rejected her.
