Former US soldier gets life for rape and murder in Iraq

Published on Saturday 5 September 2009 11:31

A FORMER US soldier received five consecutive life sentences for his role in the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the murder of three of her family members.

"What the defendant did was horrifying and inexcusable," US District Judge Thomas Russell said, sentencing Steven Green, 24.

"The court believes any lesser sentence would be insufficient."

A civilian jury convicted Green in May of raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, conspiracy and multiple counts of murder.

Green shot dead the teenager's mother, father and sister, then became the third soldier to rape her before shooting her in the face. Her body was set on fire on 12 March, 2006, at their rural home outside Mahmoudiya, Iraq, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.

The panel could not reach a unanimous decision about whether Green should get a death sentence, automatically making Green's sentence life in prison.

Green told the judge he merely followed orders from other soldiers.

Green and four other soldiers were investigated after the killings. Three who went to the family's home, along with Green, received lengthy sentences up to 110 years.