Army Sergeant who sexually assaulted colleague’s girlfriend as the couple slept in bed together after drunken night out is jailed for four years

• Sergeant Deswarao Gunputh groped civillian woman as she slept next to partner
• He was identified because of his ‘stiff’ hair which had ‘too much product’
• The victim was ‘uncomfortable, strange and worrying’ after waking up ‘in a haze’
• Sexual assault took place at  Wattisham Airfield after night of drinking in Ipswich
• Sgt Gunputh has been jailed for four years and dismissed from the British Army

A British Army sergeant who sexually assaulted a colleague’s girlfriend while the couple slept in bed together has been jailed for four years and dismissed from the military.

Sergeant Deswarao Gunputh groped the young woman from the end of a bed where she was sleeping with her boyfriend following a drunken night out.

He initially fled the room when the woman ‘woke up in a haze’, but was eventually identified arrested because of his ‘stiff’ hair with ‘too much product’. 

A trial at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, heard Sgt Gunputh had been drinking tequila shots with the colleague and his girlfriend before heading to Ipswich, Suffolk, for more drinks.

They later headed back to base at Wattisham Airfield, where the incident took place. 

The woman, a civillian in her 20s, told the court she was ‘shocked’ when she woke at 2am to feel someone molesting her and saw her boyfriend fast asleep next to her.

Sgt Deswarao Gunputh has been jailed for four years and dismissed from the British Army for sexually assaulting a woman 

She recalled feeling ‘spiky’ hair, which was later found to be Sgt Gunputh via DNA tests.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: ‘Me and [my boyfriend] went back to his block… I don’t remember going to bed because I had been drinking.

‘I was woken up by the feeling of someone touching me. It was uncomfortable, strange and worrying… I was not fully awake and I woke up in a haze.

‘I realised [my boyfriend] was next to me, so it must have been a third person in the room. I had my hand out searching and I touched their hair.

‘[The hair felt] like when someone uses too much product… it was almost stiff, like hay. [The room] was really dark – I opened my eyes but couldn’t see anything. 

“They jumped back and left the room and I heard a door shut. After the person left I was really confused.

The woman tried to wake her boyfriend, but he was in a deep sleep, the court heard.

She then realised her ‘pants were only on one leg’, and went to check the corridor before locking the door to the room.

Bulford Military Court, in Wiltshire, where the court martial into the sexual assault was heard

‘I went into the bathroom and all I remember is sitting on the floor and crying’, the victim added.

Her boyfriend reported the incident the following morning. 

The court heard it was Sgt Gunputh’s ‘spiky’ hair she felt and his DNA was found on the victim. 

Sgt Gunputh, of 1 Regiment Army Air Corps, denied penetrating the woman with his fingers, insisting she was ‘flirting’ with him on the night out and claiming his DNA was transferred to her as they ‘held hands’.

However, he was convicted of the sexual assault by penetration on Wednesday.

He was jailed for four years and dismissed from the Army. 

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