A former Melbourne sex worker has launched legal action against the US government over allegations a senior officer in the US Navy had sex with her in the 1990s – when she was just 15 and addicted to heroin.
Lisa Harris, 39, will pursue compensation under an agreement between the US and Australia, which provides recourse for local victims of alleged misconduct by American military personnel.
Lisa Harris has launched legal action against the US government after she was solicited by a lieutenant commander in the US Navy when she was 15 years old.
Harris, who now lives in Darwin, said she met the lieutenant commander, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in St Kilda in 1996 or 1997, before having sex at a CBD hotel and receiving about $150.
“He was wearing a dark green uniform. It identified to me straight away that he was in the military, and he was American. He handed me a business card at the end of our time together,” Harris told The Age.
She insists that officer was aware of her age when he solicited her on Fitzroy Street.
“He absolutely knew how old I was. Because he was in a uniform, I told him. I said: ‘you know I’m only 15, right?’ And he said it didn’t bother him,” Harris said.
An agreement between the US and Australia provides recourse for local victims of alleged misconduct by American military personnel.Credit: AP
Correspondence obtained by The Age reveals Victoria Police and the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigated the incident in 1999, but the probe was stymied by Harris’ refusal to implicate the American officer.
The lieutenant commander has never denied the encounter. However, his lawyers told the US District Court of Columbia in 2006 that he thought Harris was 19.
“Plaintiff provided a statement that detailed how he met her during a trip to Australia, that she told him she was 19 years old, that they engaged in a consensual sexual encounter, and thus… Plaintiff did not engage in a sexual relationship with a known, teenage prostitute,” according to US court documents.
The officer made the statement as part of a legal bid to overturn a decision by the US Navy in 1999 that ended his 17-year career.
The appeal was successful, with the District Court of Columbia ruling in 2008 that his records would be changed to show that he was not discharged, but continued to serve until eligible for retirement.
Harris found the judgement during an online search, and said she was disgusted by the court’s decision.
“The thing that really annoys me is finding out that his government allowed his testimony to go through court without any challenge. This guy has lied and lied and claimed he didn’t know how old I was. And now he gets his record changed,” Harris said.
Lawyer Cameron Doig from Arnold Thomas & Becker accused the officer of preying on a vulnerable young woman.
“By demanding that the United States government compensate her for the devastating impact on her life, Ms Harris has shown exceptional bravery,” he said.
“Our client is one of many women in countries including Australia, Japan and Korea who have been subjected to sexual violence by visiting US military personnel.”
On February 6, Doig sent correspondence to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, KC, alleging that: “a US Navy officer, committed the tort of battery by sexually abusing our client.”
“In or around 1996 or 1997 [He] solicited our client for sex in St Kilda before sexually abusing her in a Melbourne hotel room. [He] exploited our client’s youth, homelessness and heroin addiction in order to sexually abuse her,” according to the letter sent to Dreyfus in February.
Under the agreement with the US, the Australian government is required to assess the claim for compensation and prepare a report on the case.
The report would then be delivered to the US government, which would decide whether an ex gratia payment was warranted.
Harris’ lawyers have asked for Dreyfus to consider the claim pursuant to the “Agreement Concerning the Status of United States Forces in Australia.”
Under a similar agreement with South Korea, the US government made ex gratia payments of almost $US300,000 in 2002 to the families of two teenaged girls killed by a US army vehicle.
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