Officer allowed to 'run amok' by superiors, Defence Forces Tribunal hears

The first public hearings of the Defence Forces Tribunal are due to conclude on July 10. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

An officer accused of mistreating recruits, including in incidents linked to a soldier’s death, was allowed to “run amok” by his superiors, the Defence Forces Tribunal has heard.

Ian Hutchinson, who joined the army in late 1989, said that in the year before Oliver Mullaney died by suicide in 1991, the officer had been involved in a number of serious incidents involving other recruits.

The officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons and is known only as 2LTB at the tribunal hearing, allegedly ordered a recruit to eat cigarette butts.

In another incident, he “went ballistic”, marching recruits off a parade ground and then cutting their hair with his own scissors, the tribunal heard.

After army top brass were told about these and other incidents, he subsequently received a reprimand in October 1990 for his behaviour by a superior officer.

The officer’s behaviour was put down to his “overenthusiasm” and “lack of experience” in training recruits.

In statements read out at the tribunal, the officer, known only as 2LTB, said the superior officer had told him he “hoped I had learned a valuable lesson”.

He said the superior officer, also told him he believed “my actions were the result of overenthusiasm and a lack of experience" and he “considered the matter closed”.

Mr Hutchinson told the tribunal that after the reprimand, the officer returned to the apprentice school at Devoy Barracks, in Naas, Co Kildare.

“He was left run amok when there was nobody there to keep him in line," he said, claiming the officer "wasn't supervised.

“He continued to do what he did, and nobody seemed to (stop) him.” 

Mr Mullaney died about nine months after 2LTB’s reprimand and his return to Naas.

The tribunal has heard allegations that 2LTB deliberately targeted the teenager, forcing him to dance and kiss another recruit just two days before he died on June 22, 1991.

Lawyers for 2LTB say he "vehemently denies” allegations he bullied or targeted Mr Mullaney.

They also said it is wrong to suggest he can be linked in any way to his suicide.

Mr Hutchinson, who was just over 18 when he joined the 34th platoon at Devoy Barracks, said he didn’t complain about the way he or other recruits were treated because he cannot "remember anything" about the complaints process.

“I don’t recall any process,” he said.

“We didn’t have a safe person to make any complaints to. We didn’t trust people.” 

The first public hearings of the Defence Forces Tribunal are due to conclude on July 10.

It is investigating whether complaints of abuse were “actively deterred or whether there was a culture that discouraged the making of complaints of abuse”.

The tribunal was established in 2024 after a March 2023 report on a review of allegations of abuse against personnel within the Defence Forces detailed brutal and “sadistic” abuse, including the rape and sexual assault of male and female soldiers.