Seven British soldiers entered a small southern Iraqi village and killed an 18-year-old man during an "unprovoked" attack on a group of local civilians, a court heard today.
Corporal Scott Evans, 32, and Privates Billy Nerney, 24, Samuel May, 25, Morne Vosloo, 26, Daniel Harding, 25, Roberto Di-Gregorio, 24 and Scott Jackson, 26, all deny murder and violent disorder. The seven men were charged following the death of Nadhem Abdullah on May 11, 2003 in a roadside incident in Al UZayra.
Martin Heslop QC, prosecuting, told the court martial that the seven men were members of a section of a platoon from the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment and were on patrol in the vicinity.
Corporal Evans was in command of the section and travelling in one vehicle, while second-in-command Private May was being driven in a second vehicle. Mr Heslop said the patrol was in pursuit of a white vehicle when they passed a white Toyota being driven by Athar Finnjan Saddam.
The murder victim was travelling in the front of the Toyota, which also contained two brothers and three women. As the truck turned into the village and drew to a stop, it was boxed in by the British soldiers, the court heard.
"At this point the deceased and the driver were dragged from the vehicle and made to lie face down on the ground and then assaulted by the soldiers using their fists, their feet, their helmets and their rifles," said Mr Heslop.
"The men did little more than simply lie there suffering the blows."
It was at this point that a woman who had just given birth, Dalal Sadaam, got out of the Toyota truck to stop the fight and was struck on the mouth. Mr Abdullah was hit about the body and suffered a serious injury to the head, while Mr Saddam also suffered blows to the body, the court heard.
During the "unjustified and totally unprovoked attack" a dog who started barking was shot dead. Mr Heslop said that was the only shot fired throughout the incident.
"The soldiers then kicked and targeted the Toyota and finally slashed or let the tyres down," he said.
"This is not a case of soldiers responding to an attack nor being required to defend themselves in an operational engagement. This was I am afraid to say nothing more than gratuitous violence meted out to a number of innocent and unarmed Iraqi civilians... These assaults were unjustified and wholly unprovoked."
After the alleged beating, the soldiers tracked the two brothers who had left the Toyota before the attack, and assaulted them as well, he said.
Although Mr Saddam was not fatally injured, Mr Abdullah was taken by his family to the doctor and then on to hospital but died en route. No post-mortem examination was carried out, but blood matching the victims DNA was found in a screw recess on Mays rifle, the prosecution said.
Seven paratroopers accused of beating three Iraqis—one to death—are now standing trial in Essex, United Kingdom.

On May 11, 2003 a part of a platoon of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment visited a "small southern Iraqi village".  They pursued and stopped a white Toyota truck driven by Athar Finnjan Saddam who, along with 18-year-old Nadhem Abdullah, was taken out of the truck and thrown to the ground.  It is at this time that the paratroopers allegedly began beating both men brutally without provocation.

Dalal Sadaam, a female relative who had just given birth, attempted to stop the violence only to be assaulted herself by the butt of a rifle to the mouth.  A woman who was pregnant at the time in the vehicle shouted for the soldiers to stop.  After the soldiers left, the other victims took Abdullah to a doctor.  The doctor sent him to a hospital, but he died en route.

Only two of the paratroopers even recalled the incident months later, but evidence of the victim's blood has been found on at least one of the soldier's guns.  Eyewitnesses were mostly illiterate Marsh Arabs who have had trouble understanding the interviewer's questions but have been cooperating fully.  

A price of about £2 million is currently being attached to the cost of the trial in the UK; however, the family of the victim may be able to extract civil damages from the UK in the emerging Iraqi judicial system.