FORT BRAGG, N.C. — An Army captain at the center of a sexual assault case that has scandalized the U.S. military testified Friday that a general twice forced her to perform oral sex on him during their three-year, illicit affair.
Taking the stand on the first day of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair’s court-martial, the woman said the assaults took place in Afghanistan in late 2011 as she grew increasingly despondent over their adulterous relationship.
Both times, she said, they got into arguments that ended with Sinclair unbuttoning his pants and forcing her head into his lap as she cried.
Sinclair, 51, the former deputy commander of the storied 82nd Airborne Division, is believed to be the highest-ranking U.S. military officer ever court-martialed on sexual assault charges. He could get life in prison if found guilty.
The trial is unfolding with the Pentagon under heavy pressure to confront what it has called an epidemic of rape and other sexual misconduct in the ranks. On Thursday, the Senate rejected a bill that would have stripped commanders of authority to decide whether to prosecute serious crimes.
Sinclair’s accuser testified that the first assault took place in her office in Kandahar when she told him how she hated her life, hated working for him and believed he was just using her for sex.
“He grabbed me by the back of the neck and pushed me down. I tried to pull back, and he put his other hand on my shoulder,” she said. “It felt disgusting. It felt like I had no control over my body.”
She said the second assault took place in his office days later after she asked him to move her to another job. She said that after that episode, they never had sex again.
Asked why she did not come forward and report what happened until March 2012, she said: “I knew if I said anything, it would be my word against his and no one would believe me. I had no way out.”
She will return to the stand Monday for cross-examination by the defense, which is expected to attack her credibility. The defense says she lied about when she found a cellphone and that when she confessed to a friend about the affair, she said she was not assaulted.
Earlier Friday, she testified in detail about how the affair developed, and said that Sinclair once threatened to kill her and her family — and “do it in a way no one would ever know” — if she ever told anyone about their relationship.
She was given immunity in exchange for her testimony. Adultery is a crime under military law.
In opening statements, prosecutor Lt. Col. Robert Stelle painted Sinclair as a man who used his authority to intimidate and coerce a female officer nearly 20 years his junior into sex.
Defense lawyers portrayed Sinclair as the victim of a desperately infatuated woman who became angry when she discovered that another woman had sent the general an email that closed with “I love you.”
The defense also contends Sinclair is the target of overzealous prosecutors under political pressure to make an example of him.
Defense attorney Ellen Brotman began her opening statement by reading the jury — five two-star generals — excerpts from the woman’s diary.
“I’m so in love with him,” Brotman read. “… I love him almost unconditionally.”
