Ex-soldier charged with Iraqi girl's rape death

A former US soldier has been charged over the rape and death of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murders of three of her relatives.

Former army private Steven Green, 21, was charged in Kentucky with murder, aggravated sexual assault and conspiracy, among other offences, in the federal indictment. If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

Green’s defence lawyer, Patrick Bouldin, said that he had not seen the indictment but that his client intended to plead not guilty and “firmly stands behind that plea”.

The incident occurred on March 12 in Mahmoudiya, Iraq, a village about 20 miles south of Baghdad, where Green was stationed with the 101st Airborne Division’s 502nd Infantry Regiment.

The indictment says Green and others raped the girl and burned her body to conceal their crimes. It also alleges that Green and four others stationed at a checkpoint nearby killed her father, mother and six-year-old sister.

Green was discharged from the US Army in May 2006 for a “personality disorder”, according to military investigators, and will be tried in US District Court. Green’s lawyer said he was in custody but would not reveal where.

Nine soldiers from the 101st Airborne are accused of wartime atrocities stemming from the division’s year-long deployment, which ended in September.