Naval officer accused of rape says fellow cadet told him he was '˜amazing'

Samuel Mitchell, who is now a sub lieutenant, is accused of going into the room of the cadet at the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in Dartmouth, Devon, following a Victory in Europe Day dinner dance on May 8 last year.

The 27-year-old is accused at a trial at Portsmouth Naval Base’s court martial centre of raping her without a condom and then fetching a condom when she protested against him not using contraception and raping her a second time. He denies two counts of rape.

The complainant has said that she was too drunk to consent and had remained passive during the incident to express her non-compliance.

Mitchell, who was also an officer cadet at the time, told the panel of senior officers trying the case: “It was passionate, she was responding the whole time, telling me how good it was.”

He continued: “We had a bit of kinky chat, she was telling me similar stuff, saying I was amazing.”

He added: “I didn’t surprise her, we had a conversation, I got into bed with her, she kissed me.”

He said when interviewed by police: “We were both drunk, she was consensual the whole time, she made pleasure noises, she said I was really good at what I did.”

Describing why he decided to go to the complainant’s room, Mitchell said: “I was horny, single and a little bit annoyed, she is keen, I knew she was interested in a little bit of fun, sex.

“She told me I was fit, told me I was amazing, she told me how highly she thought of me and she joked about seeing me later, maybe I read the signs wrong.

“She didn’t tell me to leave when I was in her room.”

He added: “I was horny, I wasn’t desperate.”

Mitchell said that although the complainant was known as “ambitious and high-achieving” he said that she had “two sides” and in the “previous month she started to become a little more outgoing”.

He added: “A lot of people didn’t really like her, to me she came across as a sweet and innocent girl.”

He said that when she later came to his room, she was “panicky” and threatened him against telling anyone about the sex which was against the college rules and could lead to disciplinary action.

He said: “It was a little bit panicky, that it would affect her integrity, she was trying to control the whole situation which I thought was a bit extreme.”

He said that after she was “aggressive” towards him, she kissed him before leaving.

He said: “She kissed me on the lips, I didn’t particularly feel like kissing her on the lips, I was a bit taken aback by what she was telling me, she said she would ruin my career, I knew she was worried about me telling anyone.”

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.