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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Soldier sentenced for fatal prank | Soldier sentenced for fatal prank |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A British soldier who mistakenly shot his colleague in the head in Iraq in 2007 has been sentenced to two years in an Army detention centre. | |
| Aaron Kendrick, 20, of Fourth Battalion The Rifles, Wiltshire, was found guilty of manslaughter after he shot dead his friend while "playing" with a gun. | |
| They were in their bunk room in Basra and Kendrick told the court martial he had not realised the weapon was loaded. | They were in their bunk room in Basra and Kendrick told the court martial he had not realised the weapon was loaded. |
| His friend, 23-year-old Fijian Edward Vakabua, died instantly. | His friend, 23-year-old Fijian Edward Vakabua, died instantly. |
| The bullet struck Rifleman Vakabua, known as "Vaka", from Suva, Fiji, as he lay on his bed. | |
| Last Wednesday, a board of five Army officers - the military equivalent of a jury - took two hours to find Kendrick guilty. | |
| Sentencing him, Judge Advocate Jack Bayliss said Kendrick would serve 16 months at the military detention centre at Colchester - known as the "Glass House". | |
| The judge said the board had decided not to dismiss him from the Army and it will be the decision of his commanding officer whether his services will be retained when his sentence is completed. | |
| 'Mucking about' | |
| "Your most culpable act was to point the weapon at another soldier lying in his bunk and pulling the trigger," he said. | |
| "You were taught that you never point a weapon at anyone in jest or in the course of mucking about. | |
| "It was dangerous and reckless and an act which has cost another young man his life, devastated two families and lost the Army a good young soldier." | |
| Kendrick, based at Warminster, admitted negligently discharging an L96 sniper rifle on 6 July 2007 but denied manslaughter. | |
| The soldier said he was playing with a sniper rifle he was not trained to use, believing it to be broken and unloaded. But he told the hearing at Bulford military court in Wiltshire that he had not pointed the gun at his colleague. | The soldier said he was playing with a sniper rifle he was not trained to use, believing it to be broken and unloaded. But he told the hearing at Bulford military court in Wiltshire that he had not pointed the gun at his colleague. |
| He said he had "squeezed the trigger" and there was a bang. | He said he had "squeezed the trigger" and there was a bang. |
| He told the hearing that he was "heartbroken" by what had happened. | He told the hearing that he was "heartbroken" by what had happened. |