Two Royal Marines kicked out for Wellington boot attack on Afghan

Published on Wednesday 7 April 2010 23:19

TWO Royal Marines have been dismissed for assaulting an Afghan prisoner with a Wellington boot after he was detained on suspicion of planting a roadside bomb.

Sergeant Mark Leader was found guilty by court martial of assault causing actual bodily harm to Mohammad Ekhlas on 19 March last year. Captain Jody Wheelhouse, from 45 Commando, Arbroath, admitted the same offence earlier.

Wheelhouse was sentenced at the HMS Nelson court martial centre at Portsmouth Naval Base, to dismissal with disgrace, while Leader was dismissed.

The trial heard Mr Ekhlas needed four stitches to his lip, had a cut on his forehead and two of his teeth were knocked loose. Leader claimed he used lawful force in self-defence.

Judge Michael Hunter said: "This was a sustained assault on an injured and unarmed prisoner, a middle-aged Afghan man who was suspected of being part of a group attempting to plant an improvised explosive device.

"It is understandable those who have seen the effects of these devices should feel a degree of hatred towards those who plant them, especially when in Sgt Leader's case they had lost friends.

"But acts such as this against an unarmed man undermine the standards of our armed forces and everything they are trying to achieve in Afghanistan and puts the lives of our personnel in even greater danger."

Bob Williams, representing Wheelhouse, said that the 25-year-old was in service less than two years before the incident .

He said that Wheelhouse had been "parachuted" in to Afghanistan immediately after completing his training and had been left to "sink or swim".

He said: "We are dealing with a young, inexperienced officer.

He now finds himself absolutely distraught, he's devastated by what he has done. He has accepted his role in these unpleasant events and he's thoroughly ashamed."

Mr Williams added that Wheelhouse – who was awarded the Afghanistan service medal – admitted striking Mr Ekhlas twice with the boot. He said he only joined in when his troop sergeant, Leader, struck Mr Ekhlas.

Marcus Tregilgas-Davey, defending Leader – who had served for 17 years and was based at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon – claimed he had not initiated the attack.

He added that Leader, 34, was set to lose up to 400,000 in pension and other benefits on dismissal.

Leader, a married father of a five-week-old son, claimed he had only hit Mr Ekhas because he believed he was trying to escape. But the court martial panel did not believe this.

Mr Tregilgas-Davey added that Leader – who had service medals for Afghanistan, Kosovo, Northern Ireland as well as the Queen's Jubilee medal – had been "provoked" because he had lost close friends to IED explosions.

The trial at Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, heard that Mr Ekhlas was apprehended east of Sangin, Helmand Province, on suspicion of planting an IED.

He was subjected to violence, classed as being legitimate force, after his arrest, the court was told.

The 48-year-old was transferred, along with another detainee who was later shot dead when he tried to escape, to a forward operating base at Wistan.

He was then transported to a nearby base at Jackson.

It was here Mr Ekhlas was assaulted by Leader and Wheelhouse.

Mr Ekhlas was later handed over to the Afghan authorities, then released and cannot now be traced, the court was told.

Speaking outside court, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Jermyn, staff officer at navy command headquarters, said: "The armed forces take all allegations of abuse extremely seriously.

"This is why such allegations are investigated thoroughly and why today two Royal Marines found guilty of abuse have been sentenced by a Royal Navy court martial.