2012.02.27: February 27, 2012: Military trial begins of American Sailor Accused of Raping Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Uganda:
Peace Corps Uganda :
Peace Corps Uganda: Newest Stories:
2011.04.24: April 24, 2011: American sailor accused of raping Uganda Peace Corps Volunteer in a Kampala hotel :
2012.02.27: February 27, 2012: Military trial begins of American Sailor Accused of Raping Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda
Military trial begins of American Sailor Accused of Raping Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda
A former Peace Corps worker who taught at a girl's school in rural Uganda told a military jury in Virginia on Monday that a special warfare sailor who does construction work for Navy SEALs raped her multiple times in his hotel room in the East African country's capital. The trial comes months after Congress responded to complaints that the Peace Corps hasn't done enough to protect its volunteers from sexual assaults with legislation requiring the agency to better train participants in how to avoid such attacks.
Military trial begins of American Sailor Accused of Raping Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda
Military trial in Peace Corps rape case begins
Published February 27, 2012
| Associated Press
NORFOLK, Va. – A former Peace Corps worker who taught at a girl's school in rural Uganda told a military jury in Virginia on Monday that a special warfare sailor who does construction work for Navy SEALs raped her multiple times in his hotel room in the East African country's capital.
The trial comes months after Congress responded to complaints that the Peace Corps hasn't done enough to protect its volunteers from sexual assaults with legislation requiring the agency to better train participants in how to avoid such attacks.
The 27-year-old woman, who was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and now lives in Washington, testified in a courtroom at Naval Station Norfolk that her sexual encounter with Petty Officer 2nd Class Camaren Walker in November 2010 started out as consensual.
But after his condom came off twice, she said she wanted him to stop.
She said she tried to push Walker off her, but that he grabbed her throat and held her against the bed. She said he later raped her in the shower when he put her in a choke hold and that she feared she might drown. She said he didn't have to force himself on her the next two times - including once when his roommate was in the next bed - because she was afraid for her life.
Walker's military attorney said the case was simply about a woman who regretted her decision to have sex because she was embarrassed by her behavior. As part of her job, the woman, who graduated from Indiana University, taught girls to avoid peer pressure and to use condoms.
"This is not a case about rape. This is a case about regret," said Lt. Lauren Mayo
The accuser said that she and Walker had met an Irish pub in Kampala while she was out with three other Peace Corps volunteers who were in town for a conference. She said she voluntarily went back to his hotel room with him and that she had no idea he was in the Navy at the time. She said he didn't learn more about him until after she had been assaulted and she had mentioned that she wasn't on birth control. That's when he told her his full name so she could find him on Facebook because he wanted to keep the child if she was pregnant, according to her courtroom testimony.
Mayo said she didn't mention to any of her friends the next day that she had been assaulted. One of her friends said she thought it was "kinky" that the sex was rough and that he had choked her.
"That was my night of hell," the woman later recalled thinking during the exchange.
The Associated Press does not generally identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
It wasn't until days later when she saw a medical worker about emergency contraception that the word rape came up, and only when the medical worker mentioned it, according to courtroom testimony.
Mayo also said that the woman didn't do anything to stop Walker, such as scream, slap him or try to leave the hotel room.
"You didn't do anything to stop him, did you?" Mayo said to the woman, who simply responded "No."
At other times during her testimony, the woman said she didn't scream because it was too difficult to breathe while she was being choked. She also said she didn't leave the hotel room until the morning because Uganda is too dangerous of a country for a foreign woman to wander alone during the early morning hours.
In April, during a procedure that is similar to a preliminary hearing in civilian court, Walker's attorneys had suggested that charges were only being brought forward due to political pressure. The Peace Corps had been under criticism for not doing enough to protect is volunteers from crime, particularly sexual assault. In May, Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams appeared before a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing to apologize for the agency's shortcomings on volunteer safety issues
In November, Congress passed a bill requiring the Peace Corps to develop sexual assault risk-education and response training. The legislation also requires the agency to establish a victim's support office.
Walker's trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: February, 2012; Peace Corps Uganda; Directory of Uganda RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Uganda RPCVs; Peace Corps Kenya; Directory of Kenya RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Kenya RPCVs; Crime; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Sexual Assault and Harassment
When this story was posted in March 2012, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Mark Shriver Speaks Truth to Power Sargent Shriver spoke truth to power to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and to every leader he met. "He would know that during the 2008 election, President Obama campaigned on doubling the size of the Peace Corps. That is not even close to happening - indeed, there is a long waiting list of 20 new countries requesting Peace Corps programs. Do we really mean to have peace? If so, why isn't it beginning here, in the United States? Or are we just supporting the rhetoric and spending the money elsewhere?" |
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: AP
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Uganda; COS - Kenya; Crime; Safety; SA
PCOL47657
49