Man accused of assaulting woman in Antarctica ‘sent to icefield with students’

A typical tabular iceberg in Antarctica (C Gilbert/PA)

A man accused of physically assaulting a woman at a US research station in Antarctica was then sent to a remote icefield where he was tasked with protecting the safety of a professor and three young graduate students, and he remained there for a full week after a warrant for his arrest was issued, documents show.

Stephen Tyler Bieneman has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanour assault over the incident last November at McMurdo Station, which his lawyer said was nothing more than “horseplay”.