{"id":164932,"date":"2022-10-06T12:18:28","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T12:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=164932"},"modified":"2022-10-06T12:18:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T12:18:28","slug":"non-binary-sailor-is-cleared-of-sexually-assaulting-male-colleague","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/non-binary-sailor-is-cleared-of-sexually-assaulting-male-colleague\/","title":{"rendered":"Non-binary sailor is cleared of sexually assaulting male colleague"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Non-binary Royal Navy engineer, 23, is cleared of sexually assaulting male colleague after telling court they are innocent because they are &#8216;demisexual&#8217; and needs a strong emotional bond before proceeding with sexual contact<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Able Seaman Triss Smythe was cleared of sexually assaulting a colleague<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>AB Smythe claims they could not have committed alleged crime due to sexuality\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Demisexual people do not feel sexual attraction without deep emotional bond<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A Royal Navy engineer has been cleared of sexually assaulting a male colleague after telling the court he couldn&#8217;t have done it because they are &#8216;demisexual&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Able Seaman Triss Smythe&#8217;s demisexuality means they have to have a strong emotional bond with someone before they can think about sexual contact.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, AB Smythe said they didn&#8217;t find the complainant sexually attractive and could not be guilty of &#8216;grinding&#8217; and kissing their fellow serviceman.<\/p>\n<p>They told the court they even struggled to kiss their own female fiancee passionately at the start of their relationship, &#8216;let alone a colleague&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old, an Air Engineering Technician, insisted they wrapped their arms around their fellow sailor and kissed him in an aircraft hangar in an &#8216;Intense&#8217; but &#8216;platonic&#8217; manner.<\/p>\n<p>AB Smythe, who was known to use the phrase &#8216;I&#8217;m here and I&#8217;m queer&#8217; around the workplace, had denied one count of sexual assault of non-consensual touching and claimed the kiss was simply a &#8216;peck&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>At Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, the three day trial came to an end as the board delivered a not guilty verdict.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/10\/05\/12\/63132685-11282893-Able_Seaman_Triss_Smythe_pictured_has_denied_sexually_assaulting-a-5_1664970663886.jpg\" height=\"869\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Able Seaman Triss Smythe (pictured) was cleared of sexually assaulting a fellow sailor, claiming they could not have done because they are demisexual<\/p>\n<p>The court previously heard Smythe left his fellow serviceman feeling &#8216;violated and humiliated&#8217; by putting his arms over his shoulders and &#8216;grinding&#8217; up against him, before kissing him.<\/p>\n<p>Both sailors had been wearing &#8216;paper thin&#8217; summer overalls at the time and the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the trial the kiss went on &#8216;for what felt like a lifetime&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>During the trial, the court heard Smythe &#8216;circled&#8217; around the back of his colleague in a helicopter hangar at Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton, Somerset.<\/p>\n<p>Giving evidence, AB Smythe said their &#8216;demisexuality&#8217; meant the kiss could not have been of a sexual nature.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/10\/06\/11\/63132681-0-AB_Smythe_pictured_23_claimed_the_kiss_he_gave_his_colleague_was-m-27_1665053370828.jpg\" height=\"994\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>AB Smythe (pictured), 23, told the military court the kiss they gave their colleague was &#8216;platonic&#8217; and simply a &#8216;peck&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>On thier sexuality, AB Smythe told the court: &#8216;It&#8217;s not something I scream from the rooftops.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I always understand how difficult [coming out] is to do. It is hard, I&#8217;ve had to do that myself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I am demisexual &#8211; with emotional requirements. It is on the asexual spectrum.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>When challenged that they were using their sexuality as a cover, AB Smythe replied: &#8216;I don&#8217;t use it as a cover.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The fact is I&#8217;m demisexual &#8211; sexual urge isn&#8217;t something that comes easily with my own fiancee, let alone a colleague.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The court heard that AB Smythe, who has been &#8216;out&#8217; as demisexual for &#8216;roughly two years&#8217; since they started dating their now fiancee, waited three months before starting to feel sexual towards her.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I have nothing other than professional and platonic feeling for [the complainant],&#8217; he added.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/10\/05\/12\/63132709-11282893-The_trial_is_taking_place_at_Bulford_Military_Court_pictured_in_-a-4_1664970663881.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The trial is taking place at Bulford Military Court (pictured) in Wiltshire, where AB Smythe is standing accused of sexual assault by non-consensual touching<\/p>\n<p>AB Smythe told the court that the complainant, had spoken to them in a &#8216;very personal&#8217; conversation the week before.<\/p>\n<p>They said: &#8216;After the conversation he came and threw his arms around me in a meaningful hug with a lot of emotion involved and very important that this hug happened.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He then went on to place a kiss on my cheek &#8211; how you would kiss a family member you care about.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Intense, emotional, platonic kiss.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>AB Smythe told the court they hadn&#8217;t considered that sexual either.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I very much viewed it as a friend expressing what they couldn&#8217;t quite do in words. I had no impression of a sexual subtext,&#8217; they said.<\/p>\n<p>However, the complainant said this event never actually took place.<\/p>\n<p>On the alleged sexual assault, AB Smythe said: &#8216;I walked alongside the aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;At this point [the complainant] had clearly stopped working, I thought it&#8217;s as a good time to quickly go over and say hi.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Because of the events of [the week before] I wanted him to know that that display of platonic affection was nothing for him to be worried about and hadn&#8217;t changed our relationship.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I came up behind him and threw my arms over his shoulders and gave him a quick peck on his cheek.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>AB Smythe denied taking the complainant in a tight grip.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I gave him a quick peck on his cheek,&#8217; they added.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if it was slobbery, they replied: &#8216;No, it was meant to be a very quick split second type of thing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I have no reason to lick him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I don&#8217;t find him sexually attractive.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>On the allegation that they pressed their penis up against the complainant&#8217;s bottom, AB Smythe said: &#8216;The closest thing to his centre line would have been my right hip.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I won&#8217;t deny that he didn&#8217;t feel anything. It wouldn&#8217;t have been able to be my penis, through overalls, personal clothing system (PCS) and my boxers, and the same on him &#8211; it&#8217;s a bit of a stretch in my opinion.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>AB Smythe said the contact was &#8216;not in the slightest&#8217; bit sexual, that they had &#8216;no reason to thrust into him&#8217; and the kiss was &#8216;purely platonic, a between friends type of kiss&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>When told they had no right to kiss a colleague in the workplace like that, AB Smythe said: &#8216;I had the right to kiss him platonically in the same way he did to me.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-11287175\/Sailor-cleared-sexual-assault-telling-court-innocent-demisexuality.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Non-binary Royal Navy engineer, 23, is cleared<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":164931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23056],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - 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