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’.
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.
Read full article by Neil Michael on the Irish Examiner website below.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41936301.html
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