Household Cavalry trooper molested colleague’s girlfriend, court hears

A Household Cavalry trooper allegedly got one of his colleagues blackout drunk then sneaked into his bedroom and molested his sleeping girlfriend, a court has heard.

Joeli Ratu, 39, was drinking with colleagues in the Army’s most senior unit when he made a strong alcoholic ‘concoction’ for his fellow soldier which made him ‘pass out’, Wiltshire’s Bulford Military Court was told.

Ratu allegedly waited until the trooper was unconscious before entering the bedroom in his flat at Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge, where his topless partner was sleeping, and climbing on top of her.

The soldier allegedly tried to convince her to have a ‘one night stand’, kissing her neck, repeatedly grabbing her, and saying she had ‘no option’ but to have sex with him.

The woman told the court he was like a ‘cat trying to pounce on something’ and she ‘felt like a mouse trapped in the corner’.

She said she shoved Ratu away and after a 20-minute ordeal the trooper finally headed off to find her boyfriend.

He denies two counts of sexual assault. The woman cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Bulford Military Court was told Ratu met his colleague’s girlfriend at a bar earlier in the evening and took an ‘immediate interest’ in her.

After a few drinks, the group went back to the boyfriend’s flat at Hyde Park Barracks and continued drinking.

But the woman was ‘exhausted’ after three drinks and went to bed.

She said she felt ‘safe’ even though the lock on the door was broken because she thought a barracks would be ‘the safest place’.

It was heard Ratu stayed at his colleague’s flat after everyone else left and made him a strong drink.

The boyfriend had to go to the bathroom because he was too drunk and asked Ratu to let himself out.

But the trooper is alleged to have instead entered his colleague’s room, knowing his girlfriend was asleep in there, and assaulted her in the bed.

The alleged victim told the court: ‘When I woke up Ratu was over the top of me. I remember waking up and seeing a face next to my face. 

‘It was split second where I saw it and jumped back. I was like “what’s going on, where’s my boyfriend?”

‘I can’t get up and run because he’s over me and in front of the exit. He’s trying to convince me to sleep with him. 

‘I kept backing off but every time I went further away he got closer to me, no matter how far away I moved. He tried to grab me, and I was very adamant about asking where my boyfriend was.’

She added: ‘I kept thinking Jesus Christ, what have I got into? If I don’t do something, something is going to go terribly wrong.

‘It was like a cat trying to pounce on something. Like cat and mouse, and I felt like a mouse trapped in the corner.

‘I tried to keep my hands up like a shield, trying to make a wall, so when he’s trying to grab around me he won’t be able to. I think he had one knee on the bed and one foot on the ground. 

‘He’s frantic while I’m trying to remain composed. I remember him saying I should be his one night stand and that my boyfriend was passed out.

‘He kept saying there’s no one here and your boyfriend’s gone. Trying to tell me that there’s no option, this is the only option. He won’t stop advancing on me as if it’s going to change my mind.’

The woman said she focused on trying to be ‘firm’ with Ratu and refrained from raising her voice.

‘I was worried about my boyfriend through all of this,’ she added. ‘There was no one who could help me. 

‘I got harsh and demanded he bring me my boyfriend.’

The woman said he eventually went to fetch her boyfriend after 20 minutes in the room and came back carrying him before placing him on the bed.

The alleged victim added: ‘He was so, so sick. Ratu said “I’m sorry for getting him so drunk” – and that wording stuck out to me because my boyfriend was capable of making his own decisions.

‘I was like “what have you done to him?” because I have never seen him like that but I didn’t say it out loud. 

‘I had to be polite and I hate that I had to be polite.’

The woman claimed Ratu eventually left the bedroom but tried to kiss her neck again on his departure. She reported the incident the next day.

Commander Edward Hannah, prosecuting, told the court the victim ‘made it clear that what Tpr Ratu was requesting was not going to happen’ and that she ‘thought she could placate him’.

The trial continues.