General sexually assaulted me, officer testifies

Associated Press

FORT BRAGG, N.C.

An Army captain at the center of a sexual-assault case that has scandalized the U.S. military testified Friday that a general twice forced her to perform oral sex on him during their three-year, illicit affair.

Taking the stand on the first day of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair’s court-martial, the woman said the assaults took place in Afghanistan in late 2011 as she grew increasingly despondent over their adulterous relationship.

Both times, she said, they got into arguments that ended with Sinclair unbuttoning his pants and forcing her head into his lap as she cried.

Sinclair, the 51-year-old former deputy commander of the storied 82nd Airborne Division, is believed to be the highest-ranking U.S. military officer ever court-martialed on sexual-assault charges. He could get life in prison if found guilty.

The trial is unfolding with the Pentagon under heavy pressure to confront what it has called an epidemic of rape and other sexual misconduct in the ranks. On Thursday, the Senate rejected a bill that would have stripped commanders of authority to decide whether to prosecute serious crimes.

Sinclair’s accuser testified that the first assault took place in her office in Kandahar when she told him how she hated her life, hated working for him and believed the general was just using her for sex.

“He grabbed me by the back of the neck and pushed me down. I tried to pull back, and he put his other hand on my shoulder,” she said. “It felt disgusting. It felt like I had no control over my body.”