A COMMANDANT in the Air Corps has been found guilty of using abusive language to a superior officer by a court martial.
Comdt Niall Donohoe (47) who is attached to number five support wing in the Air Corps, had pleaded not guilty at the general court martial hearing in McKee Barracks to using threatening or insulting language to a superior under section 133 of the Defence Act 1954.
Comdt Donohoe, who is married with two young children, had made the comment after Lieut Col Gerard O’Sullivan had given him a negative appraisal. Both men were based at Baldonnel airport.
Comdt Donohoe could face prison after a court martial board found he had told his superior officer, Lieut Col O’Sullivan, “you’re a little prick”.
He had claimed he was misheard and that what he had actually said was “this is very prickly” when he read the appraisal.
Earlier yesterday, military judge Col Tony McCourt had told the board of five men and one woman they should not consider the term used by Comdt Donohoe as threatening, but they could consider it insulting if they decided it had happened.
Before the board retired to deliberate, the evidence of three prosecution witnesses and seven defence witnesses was summarised and the board directed about the verdict.
“There are few things in this world that we can be utterly and completely certain of, but you must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt” before conviction, the colonel said. The board members should apply their own “service, knowledge and training” when reaching a verdict.
A unanimous verdict was preferable, he added, but a two-thirds majority would suffice. When the board returned its verdict of guilty, however, it was not required to stipulate whether it was unanimous or by majority.
Col McCourt directed the board to destroy its notes.
Evidence was then heard of Comdt Donohoe’s service and character. He had served in the Defence Forces since 1981 and had been awarded a Unifil medal, a UN peacekeeping medal and a service medal.
The court martial will hear evidence of mitigation from Fergal Kavanagh SC, defending, on Monday before sentence is passed. It is open to him to jail Comdt Donohoe for up to two years or to order that his pay be cut and his rank be reduced.
The last time a general court martial was convened to hear charges against a member of the Defence Forces was in 2002. A general court martial is the most serious of the three types of court martial, the others being summary court martial and limited court martial. The Director of Military Prosecutions decides which form of prosecution should be used depending on the seriousness of the charge and the rank of the officer involved.
