Navy chief raped us said two sailors - one of many such complaints

Two retired sailors have accused a former top navy officer of raping them aboard the ship he commanded in 1973. I know both these men and they are telling the truth. For far too long they have been denied all forms of justice and one of these men had his pension denied as the Navy Chief had gone to great lengths to silence him.

These men have been long tortured about what they went through and myself and my ex-partner have been aware of their trauma prior to the mountain slide of complaints against the armed services. This is not how people should have been treated, not just by the perpetrators of course however by those who should have aided their voice, those in various middle and high office who should have raised the alarm as internally they knew of the numerous complaints and of various cultures of horrific abuses.

Power corrupts itself into abuses and history has taught us this is self-evident. We all know that cultures of favour-dispensation have been bountiful in the Australian Defence Forces and the Australian Navy, and these have manifest much deceit - often the ability to discover the truth is outstripped by the capacity to manifest deceit. In recent times the silence has been set aside with the courage of one person after another speaking up about contemporary abuses and this has led the Minister of Defence Stephen Smith to have done what few others have before him and that is to support the rights of the individuals who have raised the complaints - there are far too many of them for the majority of complaints not to be true and hence clearly indicative of the dark palls of abuse and the concomitant complicit silence guaranteed for far too long, far and wide, permitting one attrocity after another, against the will of people, and for far too many destroying their lives, vanquishing their right to peace in this world.

My ex-partner and I have listened to some of the recordings of the testimony presented to tribunals by these men and you would just be horrified - words cannot evoke the steely resolve and courage of these men. We were saddened at the vacuum of inhumanity; my ex-partner transcribed much of them for the just use of it by these two good men.

There must be an end to these abuses and they will end when the cultures of silence and retribution (for daring to speak up) are eliminated. It is a disgrace, a great dishonour, for those who protected the perpetrators of endemic and pernicious abuses.

All power to the whistle-blowers.

Far too many servicemen and servicewomen, ordinary human beings, have lived in a dark and very lonely habitat of the mind, in austere stangulating fear and in languish, and sadly many of these people would have passed on some of their trauma, by various impact, generationally upon those around them, their children for instance.

The following is one of many such stories and if you can please share this story widely then kindly do so.

- Gerry Georgatos

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/13961558/navy-chief-raped-us-sai...

Navy chief raped us: sailors
Joseph Catanzaro, The West Australian
June 16, 2012,

William Hinds and a 68-year-old former crewmate of the HMAS Perth, both men allege they were sexually assaulted by Captain Robert Percy in 1973.

Two retired Perth sailors have accused WA's former top navy officer of raping them aboard the ship he commanded in 1973.

Both victims are among almost 900 people who submitted allegations of abuse within the Australian Defence Force to a Federal Government-ordered inquiry.

Williams Hinds, 60, and a 62-year-old sailor he served with who could not be named, both allege that Capt. Robert H. Percy used a cocktail of intimidation and alcohol to force himself on them when he was the commanding officer of their ship, HMAS Perth.

Their confronting accounts come after it was revealed the Government inquiry conducted by law firm DLA Piper found hundreds of plausible allegations of abuse, including many said to have occurred at the HMAS Leeuwin training base in Fremantle.

In May 1973, Mr Hinds was serving as a cook aboard the Perth, which was docked in Sydney at the time.

The then 21-year-old says he was ordered to deliver some pineapple parfaits to Capt. Percy's cabin for a lunch he was hosting for the Sri Lankan ambassador. But when Mr Hinds arrived he was told the meal had been cancelled.

He accepted an invitation to stay for a drink of vodka from Capt. Percy and became drunk, at which point he says Capt. Percy said: "You could go a long way in the navy and I could help you," before he allegedly raped him.

Mr Hinds broke down and cried when he recounted the details of the assault.

"It was non-consensual," he said. "I can still see it right now."

Capt. Percy, now dead, went on to become Australia's naval attache to Washington and the officer in command of Western Australian Forces in 1979. He retired with the rank of commodore.

The sailor who could not be named says Capt. Percy raped him aboard the Perth while it was docked in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in 1973.

"It happened in the shower," the sailor said. "It was terrifying."

Mr Hinds was working in the galley on the Perth when the sailor walked in and told kitchen staff he had been sexually assaulted on a second occasion. "He (the other sailor) was putting his uniform back on. He walked in saying, 'the captain f….. me'."

Mr Hinds backed the sailor's story that he was immediately, and illegally, kicked out of the navy for speaking out about the alleged assault.

Both men, who were reunited at a navy function in January 2009, provided _The Weekend West _with psychologist reports from as far back as 1991 which detail their experiences and the mental trauma that followed.

WA veterans' advocate Trevor Robbins said he was helping another five people in WA who had suffered abuse in the Defence Force in the 1970s.

"Two of those cases were females," he said. "They were both rape cases and in both cases the rapist was never charged."

Mr Robbins and Mr Hinds, who supported calls for ex-gratia payments for victims, were not surprised the Piper report found there was a risk alleged perpetrators now held middle and senior positions in defence. Both agreed a royal commission was needed to deliver justice.

A retired naval officer who served with Capt. Percy, but did not wish to be named, said he had been a devoted family man and respected commanding officer.

The navy was unable to confirm whether any other records of complaint had been made against Capt. Percy but said allegations of sexual assault were taken seriously.

(related article in terms that it is from the involved parties)CRUMBS of COMPASSION:
http://www.indymedia.org.au/2011/05/26/east-timor-freedom-of-information...
EAST TIMOR - Freedom of Information - A story no mainstream media wants to run with - More on the Balibo 5, the sell out and invasion of East Timor. Gareth Evans, Gough Whitlam, Andrew Peacock, Malcolm Fraser - Profits and politics before People...
I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.
—Bishop Desmond Tutu
An Australian Prime Minister interfering with due process; Kerry Packer on an ocean-going barge with a stockpile of Fanta and his hunting rifles; ASIO and the Australian Army beating about the bush looking for clandestine radio transmitters; a battered yellow Volkswagen Kombi being staked out by Australian Customs; and the Royal Australian Navy in “blackout mode”, prowling about Darwin Harbour by night.
Then there was Gough Whitlam getting sacked; Henry Kissinger in Jakarta setting up an invasion; five Australian journalists getting murdered and $38,000 worth of illegally imported East Timorese coffee being sold off to Andronicus in Sydney—no wonder the ABC didn’t want to do the documentary!
The “Dawn in Darwin” affair had two distinct aspects. One was the exotic mix of characters, institutions and events—in almost comic proportions—set against the terror and bloodshed that were taking place in East Timor. The second, less known story, was of four rather idealistic Australian men who were about to become pawns in the murky world of international politics that was unfolding in Jakarta.

WATCH THIS SPACE - more is coming - wait till you read about the Adroit Affair and the court martial debacle... the Navy needs a Royal Commission widespread, all consuming...

LINKS:

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3527982.htm
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Australia's Defence establishment is still struggling to respond to the systemic sexual and physical abuse dating back 60 years revealed on 7.30 last week. The Defence chief General David Hurley says the perpetrators of hundreds of abuse cases can't be dismissed as just a few bad apples and he'll agree to whatever remedy the Government proposes; that could even be a Royal Commission. Since this program exposed the extent of the abuse in the Defence Forces last Thursday, even more stories have emerged

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/minister-denies-cover-up-of-defence-abu...
It states "it is certain" that many boys, young men and young women were subjected to serious physical and sexual assault while they were in the ADF from the 1950s "at least into the 21st century".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-18/defence-chief-vows-to-stamp-out-ab...
According to the report, there are hundreds of "plausible" allegations of abuse - some involving multiple claims - adding that "there is a risk that those perpetrators now hold middle and senior management positions within the ADF"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/police-to-probe...
Australian Defence Force chief David Hurley told The Australian the ADF was staying at arm's length from the process while Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon decided how the more than 700 allegations should be dealt with

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/royal-commissio...
A ROYAL commission is likely to be to convened to track down and weed out any Australian Defence Force personnel - possibly including senior officers - responsible for past rapes and other abuse in the armed forces

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3525492.htm
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Serial sexual abuse of boys as young as 13, routine bullying, harassment and intimidation, more than a thousand cases and a culture of impunity that allowed it to continue for decades. These are some of the horrific findings of a report into decades of systemic abuse within the Australian Defence Force

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/minister-denies-cover-up-of-...

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asi...