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A bullying corporal has been cleared of ill-treatment after forcing an unfit recruit to do ’30 burpees every time she needed to go to the bathroom’ and accusing her of getting sick to skip training.
Robert Mehers, 33, allegedly ordered Private Charlotte Hayler, 25, to complete the exercises every time she walked under a door frame at the Catterick Training Center barracks in North Yorkshire.
The ‘confrontational’ instructor also ‘punished’ the soldier-in-training for her apparent lack of physical fitness by making her carry four stone weights, the equivalent of a single bed, during marches and refused to let her miss training despite being sick, a panel was told.
Mehers’ “intimidating and belittling behavior” left Pte Hayler “exhausted” and “emotional,” the hearing was told.
She faces court-martial on three counts of mistreatment of a subordinate at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire.
The court heard that Cpl Mehers was the woman’s instructor at the training center between April and June 2020.
However, she felt ‘threatened’ by him from day one, as she had a way of ‘bullying’ her recruits, she was told in court.
Charged
Lieutenant Commander Matt Poulsom, accuser, said: “All charges are mistreatment of a subordinate. From her first day, her conflictive behavior led her to feel scared and anxious.’
It includes, on one occasion, Pte Hayler being confronted in the women’s restroom after being sick and accused of wanting to miss training.
Despite her illness, she was subsequently forced to participate in the session, the court heard.
Pte Hayler told the court that she and Cpl Mehers
The prosecutor added: “On a separate occasion, she was singled out for being out of shape and made to wear a weight as punishment for what Cpl Mehers perceived as her poor performance.
She then received the punishment of ten burpees (a combination of a push squat and a jumping jack) every time she walked through a door frame every day for a week. This was implemented because Cpl Mehers believed that she was unfit.
‘This series of behaviors left her feeling scared and threatened in her presence. This was intimidating and belittling behavior from a young and vulnerable soldier-in-training.
While Lt. Cmdr. Poulsom acknowledged that “robustness” should be expected when training recruits, he said staff have a “duty of care” to trainees.
Pte Hayler told the court that she and Cpl Mehers had a “difficult relationship”, found him “intimidating and overbearing”, and was “scared” for him.
Speaking about the bathroom incident, she said: “I had vomited during the night and was still nauseated the next morning, then I vomited again after breakfast.”
A fellow soldier-in-training, then 18-year-old rifleman, Danielle Biddleston, told the panel that Corporal Mehers “went into gear” when she found out.
Cpl Mehers then told Pte Hayler to “control himself,” the court heard.
Pte Hayler said: ‘Another soldier took him to the bathroom. He yelled at me for throwing up in the wrong toilet, a toilet that was broken.
“He was kneeling on the toilet, retching and still feeling like he was going to throw up. He told me that he wasn’t going to get me out of the weighted gear that morning, I told him that my intention was never to quit.
‘I did [the weighted march] out of pride because I didn’t want people to think I was sick on purpose…because of the impression Cpl Mehers had left.
“I started and started feeling dizzy and nauseous again, obviously because I had actually thrown up breakfast that morning. I explained to the Physical Education Instructor that I felt weak and that I just needed to eat something.’
She said Cpl Mehers had instructed her and three other trainees to carry a 25kg heavy pack while they were “struggling” with her physical condition.
Pte Hayler continued, “On another occasion, Corporal Mehers told me and other people struggling with [training] to stop and do 10 burpees every time we walked through a door frame during the day and night.” .
‘There were four door frames between my room and the exit of the building. There were three others between the girls’ room and the girls’ bathrooms.
‘If I wanted to get out of the building I would have to do 40 burpees. To go to the bathroom, I would have to do 30.
“It was just exhausting, it made you feel tired and emotional.”
He later complained to another corporal before the matter was escalated to the military police.
Cpl Mehers denies three counts of mistreatment of a subordinate.
The trial continues.
Robert Mehers Quick and Facts
- Robert Mehers, 33, allegedly ‘punished’ a trainee soldier for her lack of fitness
- Charlotte Hayler told to do ’10 burpees every time she passed a door frame’
- He was recruit’s instructor at Catterick training centre in North Yorkshire
- Corporal Mehers denies three counts of ill treatment to a subordinate
