Two British women who accused a US airman of rape have described their traumatic experience of giving evidence in a military court martial after the case was removed from the UK justice system.
Rebecca, a former midwifery student, alleged that Tyrion Davis raped her at his home in Brandon, Suffolk, in June 2020. She reported the attack to Suffolk police, but the force ceded control of the case to the US air force after 20 days. Davis, a senior airman based at RAF Lakenheath, was tried by a panel of his military peers at a court martial on the base.
Davis was acquitted of 10 counts of sexual assault and abusive sexual contact, and two counts of assault, against Rebecca and another British woman, his estranged wife Emily. He was convicted of one count of sexually assaulting Emily by non-consensual penetration, an offence that would likely have been charged as rape in England and Wales.
Rebecca said she discovered about a week before the trial that the jury would consist entirely of Davis's military colleagues. 'It's like, if I did something wrong outside of work, having all of my nursing colleagues being on the jury,' she said. 'It doesn't make sense.'
Emily, who married Davis in 2018 and left him a year later, testified that he had assaulted her during their marriage. Both women spoke of the invasive nature of the military legal process and the emotional toll of giving evidence.
Davis, originally from California, worked as an aircraft metals craftsman in the 48th equipment maintenance squadron. He insisted the sexual encounters were consensual. The case has raised questions about the jurisdiction of US military courts over off-base offences involving British civilians.
