Micheál Martin calls for report on Naval Service member after Cathal Crotty case

Tainaiste and Minster for Defence Micheál Martin has asked the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces to give him a full report on the case of a Naval Officer who beat his former girlfriend so badly, she needed reconstructive surgery.

Petty Officer David O’Gorman had been serving at the Haulbowline Base prior to the trial last year. In August of 2023, O’Gorman pleaded guilty to a violent attack on a former girlfriend that left her in need of immediate emergency surgery and has left her permanently scarred, with one eye dislocated due to multiple fractures around its socket.

However, a year after O’Gorman – of Drumgoole, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny – pleaded giulty to assault causing harm at a Limerick address in May 2020, he remains a member of the Defence Forces. He was given a suspended sentence for the assault in a Limerick court after expressing his deep remorse and promising to pay a sum of money as compensation to his victim.

A spokesperson for the Department of Defence told CorkBeo this lunchtime that Minster for Defence and Tainaiste Micheál Martin only became aware of the case on Friday. This fresh case of a member of the Defence Forces being involved in violence against a woman comes after the huge national outcry – and protests in Limerick, Cork and Dublin – about the suspended sentence given to Cathal Crotty, for beating a woman unconscious.

And it has emerged that the judge who presided over both trials (O’Gorman and Crotty) – Judge Tom O’Donnell – is to serve his last day on the bench at Limerick District and Circuit Court this Wednesday as he heads for retirement.

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The Army has now said it has initiated disciplinary proceedings against Cathal Crotty that could lead to his removal from the military. However, the length of time it is taking the defence forces to deal with another case of violence against a woman, with Petty Officer O’Gorman, is understood to have caused concerns for Micheál Martin. This second case only came to Minister Martin’s attention on Friday as controversy raged around the Crotty case.

In a statement to CorkBeo, the Department of Defence said: “Having been made aware on Friday 21 June of the case relating to the conviction of a member of the a Naval Service member, an initial briefing report has been provided to the Tánaiste.”

The Tánaiste has now requested the Chief of Staff to prepare a full report on this matter. In relation to the individual who was convicted last November, it is understood that due process is being followed in accordance with Defence Force Regulations.

It would be inappropriate to comment further while this process is ongoing.”

O’Gorman had previously pleaded guilty to the assault on a former girlfriend at an address in Limerick in May 2020.

The court heard that O’Gorman, who was a champion light heavyweight boxer with the Naval Service boxing team, punched the woman with both hands to the head at least five to 10 times, leaving her terrified, in fear for her life and badly bleeding from the shattered socket of her right eye.

Judge Tom O’Donnell suspended O’Gorman’s sentence last autumn after the Naval officer agreed to make a significant payment to the victim and she agreed to accept it.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said she feared she would die during the attack and she said the damage done to her eye – which remains permanently in a different position, has left her ‘afraid to smile’ as it highlights the disfigurement.

The court heard there had been an argument between the couple – who had been in an on-off relationship – which started over walking their dog but it escalated to the point where O’Gorman became violent and attacked the woman.