Army Corporal denies groping female soldier’s breast and touching another’s bottom

An Army Corporal squeezed the bottom of a female soldier he was ‘assessing’ and groped another’s breast as she changed a tank transporter’s tyres, a court martial has heard.

Corporal Andrew Cline, 34, allegedly grabbed the bottom of the first woman while he was with her below a tank transporter truck assessing her work as part of a test.

The woman told the hearing she felt it was ‘important’ to report the incident because she was one of very few women ‘in a male environment.’

The following day, Cpl Cline – who serves with the Second Signal Regiment – allegedly reached over the second female soldier’s shoulder and touched her right breast in a maintenance hanger while they were changing a vehicle’s tyres.

The two women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, reported the incidents after having lunch together on the day of the second grope, the court heard.

Cpl Cline denies sexually assaulting either woman.

Corporal Andrew Cline, 34, allegedly grabbed the bottom of the first woman while he was with her below a tank transporter truck assessing her work as part of a test, a court martial at Bulford Military Court (pictured) heard on Thursday

Bulford Military Court, Wilts, heard the first woman had been completing a course at Bulford Camp at the time.

Lieutenant Colonel Jim Carmichael, prosecuting, said: ‘Cpl Cline was responsible for approving her work for a course.

‘He spent 20 minutes examining her work before they went into the pits below the truck to examine the underside of the 20 metre vehicle.

‘Cpl Cline grabbed her bottom and held it for three seconds, he laughed, and then exited the pits.’

The woman told the trial: ‘I was shocked and turned around. He just smiled and went away.

‘You do not come into work expecting something like that to happen.’

The court heard before that day Cpl Cline had been ‘pestering’ the female soldier for her phone number which made her feel ‘uncomfortable’.

The soldier said she met up with her colleague the following day who told her she had also been groped by Cpl Cline.

Cpl Cline was assessing the first woman who was completing a course at Bulford Camp at the time of the alleged incident

When the first female soldier confided that Cpl Cline had touched her bottom a day prior, the second told her that he had touched her breast earlier that day, the court was told.

The second woman then texted her boyfriend, who was also in the Army, about the incident and he contacted her senior officer on her behalf.

She told the court she had been changing the tyres of vehicles in a hanger when Cpl Cline allegedly ‘squeezed’ her breast.

The woman said: ‘Cpl Cline came up behind me and flung his arm over my shoulder and… put his hand on my right breast.

‘He was holding it for two to five seconds. I didn’t tell anyone [immediately] because I didn’t know how.’

Cpl Cline denies two counts of sexual assault.

The trial continues.