Brigadier Shane Caughey: mishandled a complaint of two sexual assaults committed by one of his sergeants. Source: The Courier-Mail
BRIGADIER Shane Caughey, the highly decorated head of Australia's biggest Army base, mishandled a complaint of two sexual assaults committed by one of his sergeants, who went on to rape another soldier.
Documents released in the wake of the Federal Government's apology to victims of Defence Force sexual abuse, reveal Brig Caughey was Major and Officer Commanding Rifle Company Butterworth when the crimes took place on deployment in Malaysia and Thailand in 1994-95.
They reveal Sergeant Malcolm John Russell assaulted two soldiers, one his superior, by licking them on their nipples as they lay in their beds.
When the soldiers reported both offences to his commander, then-Maj Caughey, no action was taken.
A sworn statement from the soldier said Maj Caughey dismissed the complaint, saying, "Well, I know people that know Sgt Russell and there's never been any sort of hint that he has homosexual tendencies".
"He just said, sort of basically, leave it with me," the soldier said.
One year later, Queensland Police charged Sgt Russell with raping a private at a home in Cranbrook, and a fourth victim, Nigel Ramm, came forward with allegations of assault and rape after the case was publicised.
In 2001, Brig Caughey, then a Lieutenant-Colonel, was issued a 'show-cause' notice after an investigation found the rape of a soldier in Cranbrook "arguably" could have been prevented if the complaint had been "more rigorously" dealt with.
It took six years, a civil court case, a court martial, an inquiry and a supplementary investigation before the Army concluded Brig Caughey had mismanaged the incidents of sexual assault reported to him; that he did not exercise adequate duty of care; that he did not use all the avenues available to him to deal with the complaints; that he had not acted within the appropriate Defence guidelines; and that his judgment had been "coloured" by his opinion of the offender as a star soldier.
Brig Caughey yesterday said the matter had been dealt with and referred further questions to Defence Media.
The revelations come one month after Defence Minister Stephen Smith apologised to Defence abuse victims and announced a powerful taskforce to investigate claims dating back to the 1950s.
A Defence statement confirmed "a Defence inquiry was conducted and action was taken" over the incidents.
After Brig Caughey found out about the attack on the Private in a Cranbrook home, the soldier said he had been called into the his office, where he was told Sgt Russell had been implicated again and that his complaint would be investigated.
The soldier said he remembered Maj Caughey saying "Geez, Rusty's got a habit of doing this sort of thing on the piss hasn't he?".
Sgt Russell was sentenced to imprisonment by the civilian and military courts and was dismissed from the Army with a reduction in rank to Private after pleading guilty to charges related to assaulting four soldiers and raping two. He served his time in Brisbane and has since been released.
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