Royal Navy sailor rapes drunken colleague at Portsmouth base

LONDON - A sailor of the Royal Navy is said to have raped a drunken colleague of his while she was asleep in her bed at Portsmouth base.

The alleged victim, of ableseaman rank, was asleep when Engineering Technician Kenni Dinnell, who has previously served on Type 42 destroyer HMS York, began having sex with her after a night out.

She claimed she thought it was a second colleague she had already slept with that night, behind his girlfriend’s back.

Dinnell is accused of raping her at an accommodation block at HMS Nelson, the Navy headquarters at Portsmouth, last July.

Commander Darren Reed, prosecuting, told the Portsmouth court martial all three had gone out to bars and a nightclub in the city centre.

Reed said during the evening the other man and the alleged victim kissed and later had consensual sex back in his cabin.

Later on, after the defendant’s friend had fallen asleep on the floor and the victim was alone in a single bed, Dinnell climbed in with her.

Dinnell began kissing her and the alleged victim, in a “drunken and unconscious” state, believed it was her other colleague, Leading Marine Engineering Artificer Greg Robertson.

He told how “things progressed” and ended up with Dinnell having intercourse with the victim. But she then realised it was not the man she had earlier bedded.

“She pushed him off and said ‘no’,” the Sun quoted Reed as saying.

Base police overheard the objection and arrested Dinnell.

The court martial continues. (ANI)