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A British Army soldier has been found guilty of groping a female colleague at the after party for a St Patrick’s Day parade attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
‘Really drunk’ Frontline Corporal Shane Ritchie groped his colleague’s butt after sliding his hand down her back as he walked past her to go smoke a cigarette.
The 26-year-old ‘stammered the words’ before grabbing her from behind during the Irish Guards regiment’s first day celebration since the pandemic.
Earlier in the day, the regiment had welcomed the royal couple, then known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as guests of honor for a traditional ceremony in which Kate had presented sprigs of shamrock to members of the battalion on parade. .
The court heard that after celebrations at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, in March last year, Ritchie’s ‘creeping’ hand grabbed the bottom of his fellow soldier.
‘Really drunk’ Lance Corporal Shane Ritchie (pictured) grabbed his colleague’s butt after sliding his hand down her back as he walked past her to go smoke a cigarette.
The court heard that after celebrations at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, in March last year, Ritchie’s ‘crawling’ hand grabbed the bottom of his fellow soldier (pictured)
He was charged with one count of sexual assault.
Belfast father-of-two LCpl Ritchie denied the allegation, stating that only his shoulder ‘grazed’ her and that if there was contact it was accidental and therefore not sexual.
However, he was found guilty at the end of a two-day trial at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire. He will be sentenced in May.
Addressing LCpl Ritchie, Justice Deputy General Counsel Jane England said: ‘You are well aware of the likely consequences of someone convicted of an offense such as this.
The court will consider dismissal and detention. You have to go to court prepared for what the outcome could be.
I’m not saying it’s unpleasant, but it would be unfair if you didn’t know.
Opening the case, prosecutor Captain Daniel Lawlor said: “On March 17 of last year, the complainant attended a St. Patrick’s Day function at a bar in Mons Barracks.
‘In the bar they introduced him to [the defendant].
Earlier in the day, the regiment had received the Prince and Princess of Wales as guests of honor for a traditional ceremony.
was found guilty at the end of a two-day trial at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire (pictured)
The plaintiff will tell the court that while she was standing up she felt someone touch her from behind, her shoulder, her back and down.
“The two had a verbal interaction and she confronted him about touching her butt.”
Testifying, the female soldier, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had been introduced to LCpl Ritchie at a St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
She continued: ‘He was really drunk.
“She couldn’t seem to really stand up properly, she couldn’t really focus her eyes on anything and when she spoke, she slurred her words.
“After I shook his hand, he said, ‘I have a lady,’ but he wasn’t interested so I walked away.”
She told the court that she returned to some nearby sofas in the room to talk to a friend, when she felt the sexual assault taking place.
“I felt someone come up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder, slid his hand down my back, and then I felt my butt being stroked,” she said.
‘As soon as I felt that, I turned to the side and saw that it was [LCpl Ritchie] and just pushed it away.
‘I said something like ‘get off me, don’t you dare touch me’.
‘It felt really deliberate, I could feel the pressure. It was a firm touch, a hold.
The court heard that she left the bar with a friend and immediately reported the incident to her chain of command, having texted the Regimental Sergeant Major personally and asking to see him next week.
When told that “not everyone” in the Irish Guards, which has only accepted women in full-time combat roles since 2018, was “not particularly enlightened or welcoming” to women, she agreed.
Such were these attitudes, she told the court that she was “unhappy” in her unit and found it a “hostile” environment to work in.
The court heard that a different colleague had told him that “the army is a man’s world”.
Giving evidence, LCpl Ritchie said he had left the bar to go for a smoke when he approached the soldier.
He said: ‘Making my way past, I skimmed past [the complainant] and she turned around and put her hands on my chest and accused me of touching her and told me to get off of her.’
When asked to clarify how close she had been, she reiterated: “My shoulder brushed against her.”
The court heard that LCpl Ritchie had attended the Army’s Operation Teamwork initiative, designed to address inclusion and cultural issues within the service, just a month before the incident.