Austria: British soldier who raped 6-year-old girl while drunk sentenced to 9-years in jail

Craig Stormey hiding his face in court

30-year-old Craig Stormey, a British soldier, was on an alpine skiing course with the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery in the Stubai Valley, Austria when he entered an unlocked home and raped a 6-year-old girl in her own bed. Stormey, who was said to have had a few drinks with friends at the pub beforehand said he could not remember leaving the pub or why he entered the home.
Judge Norbert Hofer while delivering his verdict said it was 'impossible' to find an appropriate punishment given the severity of the attack and ranked it among the 'worst kind of abuse of a child's physical well-being'.

Stormey obscured his face with a stack of paper during his court appearance (C)Reuters

 

 The court at Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, heard that the attack took place in November 2014 when the Afghanistan veteran drunkenly entered an unlocked house, stripped off and started to perform sexual acts on the sleeping child.
The girl's father told the court: 'I was lying in my bed and saw a figure holding a child in his arms
I was half asleep and first thought it was my wife but then I realised she was lying next to me.
'Then I saw the naked stranger in another room with my daughter. I completely flipped and hit him several times in the face.'
During the fight, his wife and their daughter fled the house as he called the police.
He added: 'Our daughter has managed to cope with the incident relatively well. But she has a very good memory.'
Stormey was quoted saying: 'There is no explanation for what I did, and there is also no excuse. All I can remember is fighting inside a house with a man, and a woman who held a child in her arms.'
He told the court he had suffered from PTSD having fought in war zones and had seen severe sexual assaults among soldiers on the battlefield. He also apologised to the girl and her parents.
Psychiatrist Reinhard Haller said that Mr Stormy had signs of a post-traumatic stress disorder from tours in Afghanistan but certified him as legally sane.
Stormey has been sentenced to 9 years in jail although his lawyers are reportedly planning to appeal against the length of the sentence handed down by the  judge in Innsbruck.