Ashley St Mart
A young recruit has told how he was forced to quit the Irish army after being racially abused, bullied and even threatened with rape.
Ashley St Mart – whose father is from Mauritius – has made a series of claims that will rock the Defence Forces.
He told how he was branded a “f**king foreigner” and compared to Michael Jackson by senior soldiers during a wave of racist abuse. In a separate incident, he says he and fellow recruits were branded the “faggot platoon”.
The 19 year old from Clonsilla, Dublin, lasted just three months as a recruit before quitting over the bullying and receiving his discharge papers last Thursday.
He joined the army on August 27 of this year and within a matter of days the colour of his skin was highlighted by one of his superiors.
He said he was continuously picked on by certain officers.
The Sunday World has learned that one soldier is now facing court martial proceedings as a result of some of the alleged remarks.
Ashley's father, Chris, is originally from Mauritius but has been living in Ireland for almost 30 years. His mother, Modey, is from Dublin.
The first incident occurred on September 2 when another corporal had pointed out that Ashley was an accomplished kickboxer who had won world championships representing Ireland.
Ashley said the man who is now facing court martial turned around and said: “You’re still a f**king foreigner.”
Two days later, the same soldier brought up the colour of Ashley's skin. “When he entered the room he asked me why is my skin so brown. He asked me where I was from.
I told him I was half Mauritian. He said that’s where Michaela McAreavey died and that he knew one of her relatives. He had a look in his eyes as if to say it was my fault.”
Ashley said he detailed the incidents in a note book but did not complain as he felt his life would be made hell.
“I let it go because I was only in the second week of training and I knew I would probably create problems for myself. The officers would have dealt with it in the appropriate manner but it is like school, the principal isn’t going to be around all the time.
“I knew even if I said something and it was dealt with it would come back on me. They can really mess with your life and put you through a lot of pain. I
didn’t say anything but I did record it.”
A third incident happened a few days later when Ashley was doing an about-turn as part of a foot drill. The man said: “You’re doing it like Michael Jackson, aren’t you?”
Around this time, Ashley’s notebook where he recorded the references to his skin colour went missing. He suspects one of his tormentors saw what was in the notebook, as references to his colour stopped shortly after.
However, over the following weeks he said his life was made hell in the training. Another soldier – who is not facing any charges – approached Ashley after hearing he did kickboxing. “He was saying to me, ‘You think you’re a hard man don’t you. You’re a f**king weasel’. Then he said, ‘When I get you up the mountains I’m going to rape you’.
He said he’d choke me out till I stopped breathing.”
He said he felt he couldn’t say anything because of the way the army conditioned recruits.
“I am able to be assertive and speak my mind, but because of the military hierarchy you feel you can’t. You become so conditioned. They reprogram you to think their way.
It’s so totalitarian. You’re being controlled when to talk, what to say, what to think, when to go to bed, when to eat, when to shower. You have no control over your life.”
In a similar incident, a fellow recruit of Ashley’s was forced to put another soldier’s dirty socks in his mouth.
“We were told we were the faggot platoon. They said it’s much worse in Dublin and we’re all gay.”
Several more incidents occurred over the following weeks and Ashley felt corporals were trying to turn other recruits against him.
One corporal kept insisting Ashley had ADHD and he admitted at one point he almost believed it was true because it was being said so much.
His room was trashed and he was made carry out tasks to belittle him in front of other recruits.
Despite the fact Ashley was in the top-six during shooting drills, one corporal had convinced other recruits that he was so bad he’d shoot their heads off.
The final straw occurred when Ashley was 20 seconds late. While two other recruits were later than he was, Ashley was singled out by the corporal who made the racial comments to him.
“He saw me and said, ‘This is the pri*k here. This is the clown who’s going to make all your lives hell. We’re going to punish you for this pri*k. It’s going to be a long six months’.
“He said because I was a selfish pri*k we’re going to run around the barracks for circuits. During the circuits I looked in his eyes and he said what the f**k are you doing looking at my eyes. So he told everyone we’re going to do another two circuits because I was a selfish pr**k and a c**t and idiot.”
Ashley added: “I’d never been so mentally tired in my life. I just didn’t want to go on. It was that bad.”
At that point, Ashley decided enough was enough and asked to be discharged. He had to speak to his platoon commander about the reason he was leaving. He told him about the racial comments and the rape threats.
“His eyes bulged and he was really annoyed. He didn’t know that stuff was happening.”
His mother said: “To me, what happened to him was torture. I actually cried for nights over what happened. It still affects me to think somebody could treat him like that.
These people are uneducated idiots to think they can talk to people like that.”
An army spokesman said: “The Defence Forces are aware of complaints made by a former recruit and in this case disciplinary proceedings are ongoing under military law.
Any allegations of inappropriate behaviour are investigated thoroughly by the Defence Forces.”