In the UK, a female soldier has been discharged in disgrace and jailed for seven years for sexually assaulting a fellow female solider after telling her she would “make her gay,” The Telegraph reports.
Lance Corporal Hannah Heslop, 25, was told she “failed in her duty of care” after making the moves on the sleeping woman (whose name is withheld) in their barracks after the two had a drunken night out. Heslop told the court she was “clearly attracted” to the woman and “hoped for sexual activity.”
In court, the victim said that she woke up in pain to “find the accused between her legs,” her face covered in blood. Heslop herself admitted she inserted four fingers inside the woman and performed a sex act.
The woman’s lawyer read statements from her in court saying that she no longer felt comfortable going out without her boyfriend, had reduced confidence and also had trouble sleeping.
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“I find myself breaking into tears thinking about what happened,” the statements read. “It doesn’t matter if I’m in public or private I will just break into tears. These feelings and emotions of mine have all been a direct result of what LC Heslop did to me without my consent…It has affected my work and might end up affecting my career because I do not like going out of the UK.
“I also do not tend to go out socialising any more. If I do, it is only when my boyfriend is with me. If I do, I end up feeling guilty the next day as if I am not allowed to enjoy myself.”
According to Heslop’s lawyer, she had spent time in foster care as a child, had been in the army for nine years and volunteered in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis.
The army “is her life and family,” her lawyer said. “It is the most important factor in her life.” The lawyer said that the discharge and jail sentence was going to “wreck her life” and “effectively going to destroy her.”
