Roselia Daniella Epati is facing departmental enquiry over the accusations of groping colleagues. Source: Twitter
Canterbury (New Zealand): A court martial is scheduled for a female sailor who is suspected of “groping” three other military members by their crotch and hips, agencies reported.
One of the victims was reportedly a senior judge.
At a court hearing at Devonport Naval Base, Able Steward Roselia Daniella Epati appeared before Judge Maree MacKenzie and pleaded not-guilty plea of the ‘indecent’ assault.
According to reports, a male, two women, and another guy were reportedly groped while being on board the HMNZSCanterbury on February 18, 2021, as well as the next morning.
Epati, an excellent steward in the New Zealand navy, is reported to have been drinking when she grabbed a female shipmate’s buttocks as the defendant left the ship on shore leave.
Two others were allegedly assaulted just hours later after Epati returned from shore leave.
Epati’s first alleged victim asserted that she was groped for “a good couple of seconds” and added that Epati was obviously drunk.
The first accuser testified via audio-feed, saying: “She was content. She was visibly intoxicated, between tipsy and drunk. She had a positive attitude. She might have been being amusing or flirtatious. I wasn’t particularly interested in using it for anything. I can still see her blushing, and she did apologise”.
The victims told the jury that she was “very inebriated” at the time. There was “talk circulating around the ship” two days after the incident about other people Epati had touched.
According to her second accuser, Epati allegedly told her fellow shipmates, “I’ve had balls, like these,” before grabbing the man by the crotch, according to a local New Zealand newspaper.
While a third victim claimed Epati “grabbed my vaginal area” to show what had happened to the male victim, the victim, who claims that it was a “very purposeful” conduct, contacted a higher-ranking officer at the time.
Epati is “the only one who can give first hand evidence as to what she was thinking,” according to defence attorney Matthew Hague.
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