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Sailor Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Subordinate Says It Was Consensual Gay Sex

“I would not purposefully take advantage of someone while he was sleeping."
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By Dan Avery
April 4, 2018 / 10:17 AM

A Canadian sailor facing sexual assault charges says he only misled military police because he was uncomfortable talking to investigators about gay sex.

Joe Raedle / Staff

MIAMI - FEBRUARY 02: A judges gavel rests on top of a desk in the courtroom of the newly opened Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum February 3, 2009 in Miami, Florida. The museum is located in the only known structure in the nation that was designed, devoted to and operated as a separate station house and municipal court for African-Americans. In September 1944, the first black patrolmen were sworn in as emergency policemen to enforce the law in what was then called the "Central Negro District." The precinct building opened in May 1950 to provide a station house for the black policemen and a courtroom for black judges in which to adjudicate black defendants. The building operated from 1950 until its closing in 1963. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

An unnamed subordinate claimed he awoke one night in 2015 to find Master Seaman Daniel Cooper performing oral sex on him aboard the navy destroyer they were both stationed on. Cooper was first questioned about the incident in March 2016, and says he withheld certain details then because he believed investigators were not “interested” in hearing them.

“I assure you, they weren’t interested,” he testified. “It’s not an easy thing to talk about, going into the details of a homosexual act with people who aren’t homosexual.” He has since confirmed they had sex, but insists it was consensual.

On Friday, Cooper testified that he and the other sailor went back to their quarters after a night of drinking, and he noticed the other man was aroused. He then reportedly asked if he wanted to have sex, to which the other man agreed. Cooper told the court he followed the man to his bunk, asked him again if he wanted to become intimate, and then performed oral sex on him.

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NEW YORK - MAY 28: (NEW YORK NEWSPAPERS OUT) One sober sailor tries to get two drunken sailors back to their ship after getting drunk in Times Square May 28, 2005 during Fleet Week 2005 in New York City. During the annual Fleet Week over a dozen Navy ships, Coast Guard ships and vessels from all over the world visit New York Harbor. The visiting ships are opened to the public throughout the week. (Photo by Robert A. Sabo/Getty Images)

Prosecutor Maj. Dominic Martin maintains Cooper went into the man’s bunk without permission and performed oral sex on him while his alleged victim was inebriated and, at times, unconscious.

“I did not do that,” countered Cooper, a naval communicator at a Canadian Forces Base in Halifax. “I would not purposefully take advantage of someone while he was sleeping.”

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