Gardaí launch inquiry as Defence Forces officer accused of attacking woman with bottle at party

The man has been placed on leave by the Defence Forces after the incident in the early hours of last Saturday. File picture

Gardaí have launched an investigation into allegations a Defence Forces officer attacked a woman with a wine bottle at a social event.

The man was placed on leave by the Defence Forces after the incident in the early hours of last Saturday.

A garda spokesperson told the Irish Examiner: “Gardaí attended the scene of an incident at a premises in Baldonnel, Co Dublin, on Saturday April 18, shortly after 2.30am. A male in his 20s was arrested and detained at Clondalkin Garda Station. He has since been released without charge, pending further inquiries.”

It is understood the man had to be restrained after it is alleged he was going to hit the three-star private again before other soldiers intervened.

The air corps member is understood to have been struck on the head with the bottle. She had been invited to attend a “wings” ceremony — marking the completion of air corps training — earlier in the day at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, Co Dublin, on Friday.

The incident is understood to have happened at a party held afterwards in the officer’s mess.

On Tuesday, the Defence Forces said the man, who had travelled to the ceremony from Munster, had been placed on special leave “on a without-prejudice basis” pending the outcome of an investigation.

Special leave is usually paid and authorised leave granted to soldiers returning home from overseas, for those changing stations, and for those studying or sitting exams. The Defence Forces cannot suspend members over such alleged incidents because of the current legislation covering conduct.

It asked for the ability to suspend members after the public outcry that erupted over a case involving former army private Cathal Crotty.

Crotty, from Parkroe Heights, Ardnacrusha, Co Clare, beat a woman unconscious in a random street attack on May 29, 2022, and boasted about it afterwards on social media.

Although initially given a wholly suspended three-year sentence, the Court of Appeal ruled the sentence unduly lenient and later jailed him for two years.

A few days after Crotty was initially allowed to walk free, the Defence Forces asked the Government for the power to suspend members pending a criminal trial. 

Then tánaiste Micheál Martin said he would consider the request, but issued an instruction for the placement on local leave, with immediate effect, of all serving Defence Forces personnel convicted of sexual assault or rape, or who have been charged and awaiting trial, on a without-prejudice basis.