Soldier D testified at Major Brangman’s 2001 acquittal

By Sam Strangeways

A former soldier has told how he testified against Glenn Brangman in court more than ten years ago — then watched him walk free after a magistrate kicked the sex assault case out.

Soldier D, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims he was attacked by Brangman in 2000, when he was a member of the Quartermaster’s Company.

His complaint was one of 13 made by soldiers at Warwick Camp against Brangman between 1989 and 2002 and the only one that ended up in court.

“It was very, very hard for me,” he told The Royal Gazette. “I had no one to help me. The man who started all this is a very manipulating man. He will use everything he has against somebody. I needed somebody to help me.”

Brangman, then a Regiment Major, was acquitted after a trial in 2001 by Magistrate Edward King, who found Soldier D’s testimony to be “inconsistent, tenuous and unreliable”.

More than a decade on, the former soldier, now in his thirties, said he’d like to go to court again to prove his claim, despite a fear of his identity being revealed.

He spoke to this newspaper after learning that a similar allegation had been made to police by a young male employee at Bermuda Housing Corporation, where Brangman was general manager, and that this newspaper uncovered a string of other claims from former soldiers.

Brangman has since been convicted in Magistrates’ Court of sexually assaulting Mr X, the BHC complainant. His latest appeal against those convictions was rejected by the Court of Appeal on Monday, when he was jailed for three years.

“I didn’t get no justice; none was given,” said Soldier D. “When I stood up to do something, he walked free. He lost his position at the Regiment [when he was made to retire in 2002] but he was not incarcerated.”

He added: “He has scarred a part of me and my life. He has hurt other people. Why should he be out on the streets?”

Soldier D had a troubled upbringing and was already having problems at the Regiment at the time of the alleged attack, having failed to attend weekly mandatory training at Warwick Camp.

Brangman, he said, punished him for his poor attendance and became increasingly strict, chastising him for every minor misdemeanour and warning him he’d end up in jail.

“When he talks to you, he likes to get up in your face, close and personal,” said the former soldier. “But if you look in his face, you don’t know where his hands have gone. A lot of people were afraid of Brangman.”

On the day of the alleged assault, Soldier D was doing extra duties when Brangman told him to go into his office.

“He came to the front of the desk and basically told me that I had to buck up and be a better soldier,” said the man. “At the same time, he had his hand on my belt. He asked me if I wanted to go to jail and I said ‘no’.

“I already felt very uncomfortable where he had his hand to. I tried to walk back. He told me that if I moved from where I was, he would have me in lock-up.

“I stood still and that was when he went for my zip. He undid my zip and he put his hand in my pants. In layman’s terms, he was trying to grab my penis.

“When you are afraid and scared and you have nothing, you stand there and try your hardest. I tried to pull away a little bit but he pulled my belt. I told him ‘I have to go’. He said ‘you are not going anywhere because I’m talking to you’.

“He didn’t do anything extreme. He touched me but he didn’t do anything. It was just all wrong in the first place.

“I told him I was uncomfortable and he said ‘well, if you don’t want to spend time in jail, you need to listen’. He kept putting across that if I did what he wanted I could get ahead and get out [of the Regiment].”

Soldier D continued: “When I left that evening, I didn’t go back. I managed to get to my parents and I managed to tell them that something happened, that I was very scared and what did they think.

“They were the ones talking about court. I was very terrified. Most guys would have fought back but when you don’t have a rank on your shoulder you don’t have any power to do anything. You are helpless.

“The only reason I got away was because I almost fainted on the floor.”

Soldier D went to police and at one stage, he said, another soldier also spoke of pressing charges, but got cold feet.

“I had to do everything by myself. He couldn’t take the burden of being in court.”

The ordeal of giving evidence at the August 2001 trial and Brangman’s subsequent acquittal left him in a terrible state. “It was very hard to walk down the street. People talk, it’s a small island.”

He never returned to Warwick Camp and said: “Hate is a strong word but that is what I feel for that place. No one should have to go through what I went through at that place.

“To this day, I have no respect. They owe me an apology and they owe me a little bit more than that.

“That scarred me when I left there. I didn’t feel like a soldier. I was broken. I didn’t have any self-confidence, any self-esteem. I was broken to the bone.”

Soldier D still dreads coming across former Regiment colleagues in the street who could know about the past.

“I want to have kids some day and I pray to God that they never hear what happened to their father and that this never happens to them. The emotional scars in my life are hard to deal with.”

He has seen Brangman a couple of times since the incident but did not speak. “If he came my way now, it would be different,” said Soldier D.

“I wouldn’t speak this time but I would punch him in the face. Now I have the self-confidence to deal with this. Back then, I was weak.

“My life has changed because of a lot of things to do with that man. That’s one person in my life I don’t want to see. He destroyed parts of my life, other people’s lives and even more because he walked and got away with it.”