WASHINGTON -- A 25-year-old female sergeant told a military hearing yesterday in halting tones that she tried to push away the Army's top enlisted man last year as he had sex with her while she was eight months pregnant.
"I pushed him back. I said, 'No, I don't want to do this,' " said the sergeant, who is the first woman to testify in the sexual misconduct case against the sergeant major of the army, Gene C. McKinney.
McKinney sat impassively in a makeshift courtroom at Fort McNair, watching the woman, who testified that the 46-year-old decorated soldier had become a confidant in the months preceding the alleged sexual encounter.
"He had a lot of my respect in my eyes. He was always there. He was an ear," said the woman, who cast only a fleeting glance at McKinney during two hours of testimony. Dressed in her Army uniform, the dark-haired woman nervously twisted her hands.
Stationed at Fort Meade, she is now the mother of two children, one 4 1/2 years and the other 5 months old.
McKinney, suspended in February from his duties, faces 18 criminal charges that involve four women and include indecent assault and adultery.
The other alleged victims are a second Army sergeant, a Navy petty officer and Brenda Hoster, McKinney's former aide, whose allegations sparked the charges this year.
The Sun does not normally identify by name alleged sexual assault victims. Hoster, a retired sergeant major, has widely discussed her allegations with the press.
The women have said that McKinney pressured them to have sex, grabbed them and assaulted them. The Fort Meade sergeant was the only one who alleged that McKinney had sex with her.
McKinney has strongly denied the charges, saying last month: "I am still a soldier, a sergeant, and I still believe in human rights, dignity and respect for people."
He has also said that race was a factor in the decision to bring charges against him. McKinney is the first African-American to become sergeant major of the Army, who advises the chief of staff. His accusers are white.
The hearing that began yesterday -- called an Article 32 hearing -- will determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a court martial, other disciplinary action or no charges. Testimony is expected to last six days and involve more than 40 witnesses.
McKinney's wife, Wilhemina, showed little emotion as she listened to the female sergeant, frowning only once when the sergeant testified that McKinney told her his relationship with his wife was not a good one.
