A former sailor who claimed he developed post-traumatic stress disorder after he was molested and raped by a senior officer has had his pension application rejected.
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The man, referred to only as TXBZ, served in the Royal Australian Navy for five years, from 1966 to 1971. He rose to the rank of Able Seaman before going absent without leave and fleeing to New Zealand for a decade.
A tribunal heard the man joined up aged 15 and was posted to HMAS Sydney, which was known as the Vung Tau Ferry.
He claimed he was molested and raped by an army officer who had been posted to the same ship.
TXBZ said he was assaulted on six occasions - twice on shore, twice en route to Vietnam and twice on the return journey - but was too frightened to tell anyone.
He then fled overseas when the officer made contact five years later, living in New Zealand for 10 years in the belief he would be pronounced dead and the military would not come looking for him.
The man said he had suffered guilt, flashbacks and nightmares as a result of the incidents.
His service records revealed he had also required surgery to removed anal warts, which can be spread through intercourse.
In 2010, a psychiatrist diagnosed the man with post-traumatic stress disorder due to the sexual abuse. But a second doctor attributed the man's symptoms to alcohol dependence.
The Repatriation Commission and Veterans' Review Board rejected his request for a pension, finding the claimed condition was not related to his service. TXBZ challenged the decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The commission's lawyers argued two of the alleged abuses could not have happened as military records showed the army officer had not been aboard the ship on the return leg.
The tribunal upheld the original decision, with Senior Member Steven Penglis finding the man did not suffer from PTSD after rejecting the facts used as a basis for the diagnosis.
''What I consider to be fatal to the applicant's case is that his evidence was that he was assaulted by the same person on six occasions: twice at the Rex Hotel in Sydney, twice on-board the HMAS Sydney on route to Vietnam and twice on the HMAS Sydney on its return voyage to Sydney,'' Mr Penglis wrote.
''The evidence establishes, and I find as a fact, that the officer who the applicant claims sexually assaulted him was not on the HMAS Sydney on its return voyage from Vietnam to Sydney.
''No adequate explanation was proffered by the applicant to explain this fact.''
Mr Penglis said this struck ''at the heart of the reliability of the applicant's evidence''.
