Prisoner assault Marines sentenced

Captain Jody Wheelhouse admitted assaulting an Afghan prisoner
12 April 2012

Two Royal Marines are due to be sentenced for assaulting an Afghan prisoner detained on suspicion of planting a roadside bomb.

Sergeant Mark Leader, based at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, was found guilty by a court martial panel of assault causing actual bodily harm to Mohammad Ekhlas on March 19 last year.

His colleague Captain Jody Wheelhouse, from 45 Commando, Arbroath, Scotland, admitted the same offence at an earlier hearing.

The defendants are to be sentenced at the HMS Nelson court martial centre at Portsmouth Naval Base.

The trial at Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, heard that Ekhlas was apprehended east of Sangin, Helmand Province, on suspicion of planting an improvised explosive device (IED). After his arrest Ekhlas was subjected to violence, classed as being legitimate force, 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, where his injuries were photographed before he was taken to a tent, usually used by ill servicemen.

A Royal Military Policewoman tasked with guarding him had to leave the tent for a short time, putting two other Royal Marines in charge. It was then that Ekhlas was assaulted by Leader and Wheelhouse, causing him to suffer further injuries to those shown in the previous photographs.

The trial heard that Leader was seen hitting Ekhlas with a Wellington boot. He needed four stitches to his lip, had a cut on his forehead and two of his teeth were loose.

Leader had claimed that he used lawful violence against Ekhlas in self-defence. But the court heard that Leader said of Ekhlas: "I don't know why they brought him back. They should have killed him."

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

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in