Navy SEAL accused of raping and almost choking sailor to death in Iraq claims it was she who had raped him
A US Navy SEAL, who was accused of sexually assaulting a female corpsman after a Fourth of July barbecue in Iraq last year, has now claimed that he was the victim. He made the claims despite bruises being seen on the face of the woman who made the allegation, reports state. A witness of the assault, US Navy intelligence specialist Colleen Grace, was reportedly sleeping on a remote airbase in Iraq when she woke up after hearing knocking at the next room's door. She also heard a voice she recognized.
According to Grace, the voice was of a Navy corpsman she knew, who sounded upset and was speaking loudly to the Army colonel who lived next door. Grace heard him say that a sailor who attended a Fourth of July barbecue had been raped by a member of the Navy SEAL platoon at the base. The corpsman reportedly asked the colonel what was to be done because the victim was afraid that she would face retribution if she reported the incident. Grace, at that point, looked at her phone to check the time and saw a missed text message from a friend asking her to come over. The message read "Urgent."
Grace reached her friend's room around 1.50 am and found her in her bed with a bruised face. She realized that the person who was sexually assaulted was her friend. The victim told Grace that she and the SEAL started out having consensual sex but then he began choking her and at one point she thought "what is he going to do with my body when he kills me?" Grace then took pictures of her friend's injuries, hugged her and cried along with her, according to the Associated Press.
The entire Foxtrot platoon of SEAL Team 7, known as Trident 1726, within weeks of the incident, was sent home. The platoon was withdrawn after the Navy made an unusually public push to strengthen order and discipline in its secretive elite force amid a series of scandals. The decision to cut short a mission of a unit there to combat ISIS was extremely rare, according to reports. Records obtained by the Associated Press from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have also revealed another reported allegation of sexual misconduct against the SEAL platoon chief, Special Warfare Operator Chief Nicholas Olson. The allegation was reportedly made two days before the barbecue. Olson, however, has denied any wrongdoing.
The Navy, in the aftermath of the alleged rape, fired three SEAL leaders and charged an enlisted SEAL with sexual assault, aggravated assault via strangulation and assault by battery for allegedly biting the victim on the face. The SEAL, who has not yet been identified, is set to face a court-martial in November.
His lawyer, Jeremiah Sullivan, however, has claimed that his client is innocent. The SEAL reportedly filed a counter-claim in February this year against the victim alleging that she was the one who sexually assaulted him. As the details of the case continue to be shrouded in mystery, Grace is the first service member to publicly talk about what happened in Iraq.