DARMSTADT, Germany — A V Corps soldier convicted of assaulting a shoe store clerk in June has returned to his unit after serving part of a five-month sentence.
A military court had found Sgt. Niall P. Dempsey, 32, guilty of assault and battery in the June 15 attack on a 19-year-old saleswoman at Dielmann’s shoe store in Darmstadt’s downtown pedestrian shopping area, V Corps officials said.
A rape charge stemming from a separate alleged incident was dismissed.
Dempsey’s two-day trial began Nov. 18 in Darmstadt, after which he began serving his time in jail, said Capt. Tom Bryant, a V Corps spokesman. On Friday, Dempsey was released to his unit, Company E, 51st Infantry, at Kelley Barracks.
In the months leading up to his trial, Dempsey was in his unit’s custody, confined to his base. He actually served about three months of his sentence.
He spent 49 days in pretrial confinement. Military officials subtracted 40 days of the sentence as an administrative credit, Bryant said. For each month of Dempsey’s sentence, the Army deducted five days for good behavior — subtracting another 25 days from his sentence.
The court also reduced the noncommissioned officer in rank to E-4 and ordered him to forfeit $700 in pay per month for six months, Bryant said.
The saleswoman said Dempsey attacked her in a secluded second-floor area. Salesman Jens Limbarth, 23, heard her cries and subsequently tackled Dempsey outside the store. A 36-year-old woman told police a similar attacker had frisked her in a department store dressing room minutes before the shoe store attack.
After German police arrested Dempsey, another woman identified him as her attacker in an alleged rape that took place in a Darmstadt park three weeks earlier.
Dempsey was charged with two counts of indecent assault, but was found guilty on a lesser count of assault and battery, said Bryant.
“As a result of the Article 32 investigation, the rape charge was dismissed,” Bryant said.
Military lawyers would not offer details on why the rape charge was dropped, he said.
