Defence Forces Tribunal: Collins Barracks army chaplain told rape victim, 17, to 'forget about it'

Giving evidence behind a screen, that private — now a married man with a family — said the assault happened in Munster in 1970. File picture

An army chaplain told a 17-year-old rape victim to “forget about it” and get on with his life, the Defence Forces Tribunal has heard.

Giving evidence behind a screen, that private — now a married man with a family — said the assault happened in Munster in 1970.

He was one of a group of privates returning back late to a camp where they had been training and a sergeant on duty asked him to step into his office.

But, under direct examination from tribunal counsel Lalita Morgan Pillay, Mr H said all he can remember was walking into a room with a desk and a mattress on the floor.

Then, he woke up as dawn was breaking about five hours later, and found he was half naked and the sergeant was on top of him. He only decided to report it in 1995.

“I had blocked it out for 25 years but my nightmares started in 1995,” he said. “I started getting flashbacks. Things were coming into my head.

“Eventually, I went to my doctor and I told him, and he advised me to go to the guards and he said he would go with me.” Despite the offer, he said he was too afraid to bring the matter to the gardaí.

But a psychiatrist treating him for mental health issues related to the rape urged him to report the matter to the Defence Forces.

“After a few days, I went up to Collins Barracks in around 1995, 1996 and the guards on the gate said they would send someone up to me. They saw my car and told me to wait in his car.

“The door opened and a chaplain got in. I said 'I was seriously sexually assaulted and I want to make complaint'.

But he just turned to me and said ‘the best thing you can do is forget all about it and get on with your life’. He then got out of the car. He wasn't in the car (for) a minute. 

Ms Pillar asked what he had hoped would happen, he said: “They should have informed the orderly officer of the day or someone but they took it no further.

“They sent the priest out to me. I thought I was getting somewhere but at the end of the day I got nowhere. You would expect some sympathy from a man of god but he never contacted me again.” 

His complaint was eventually heard by two specialist gardaí.

Repeated sexual assaults

Another former soldier also testified about repeated sexual assaults he was subjected to by his sergeant.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, broke down at the tribunal as he told how the sergeant used to order him into his office and assaulted him on at least 10 occasions.

“I felt disgust and shame for not reporting it because they wouldn’t believe me,” he said.

“My feeling now is hatred for (him) and shame for having let it carry on so long, but I didn’t see any way out.” 

He said he got “very disillusioned” with the army because of the abuse he said he suffered, and which led to his marriage breaking down, and his spiral into taking drugs and drinking heavily.

A criminal case that followed a complaint he made to gardaí led to his attacker being acquitted of some of the charges against him and the DPP decided not to proceed any further with other charges.

A civil action he brought in connection with the assaults, which took place in the 1980s, was also unsuccessful.