Guilty verdict in Irish officer's court-martial

Cmdt Nile Donohoe has been convicted of assaulting and insulting a superior officer in the Irish Defence Forces, but acquitted of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline. The Irish Times reported:

He had originally been facing five charges when the trial began last week.

However, one was thrown out following a legal submission from defence counsel Matt Shaw, and Cmdt Donohoe was then acquitted of making a false allegation against a fellow officer knowing that allegation to be false under the direction of military judge Col Michael Campion.

The newspaper also reported:

The prosecution added that witnesses called by the defence -- namely former sergeant Davy Byrne and Airman Willie Byrne -- gave “rehearsed” evidence that was both “incredible and barely credible”. 

“Ex-sergeant Byrne didn’t give evidence, he gave a performance. It poured out of him like a Shakespearean sonnet, but poorly,” [prosecutor Lt. Col. Jerry Lane] said.

The court-martial's seven-officer board will proceed to the sentencing phase, with a presentencing hearing set for May 19.

Details and background can be found in this article from the Independent.

In 2010, Cmdt Donohoe became the first officer to be dismissed from the Defence Forces in over 20 years after he was found guilty of using threatening or insulting language to a superior officer by a court martial. He allegedly called him 'a little prick.'

But, Cmdt Donohoe’s dismissal was put on hold pending the outcome of the appeal he made to the Court-Martial Appeal Court, which he successfully won in 2012.

Cmdt Donohue also attempted to derail the latest proceedings through a last-minute application to the High Court, but that effort failed.