Soldier guilty of shooting friend

Rifleman Edward Vakabua died at the British base in Basra Palace

A British soldier has been convicted of manslaughter after shooting a colleague in the head while "playing" with a gun on a military base in Iraq in 2007.

Aaron Kendrick, 20, of Fourth Battalion The Rifles, had told the court martial in Wiltshire that he had not realised the weapon was loaded.

His friend, 23-year-old Fijian Edward Vakabua, died instantly after Kendrick shot him as he lay on his bunk.

Kendrick, who had denied the charge, will be sentenced next week.

An investigation was launched following the incident and in April Rifleman Kendrick was charged by the Army Prosecuting Authority.

Kendrick admited 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 he had not pointed the gun at his colleague.

I made a mistake - I caused the death of a very good friend of mine and there is nothing I can do to change it Aaron Kendrick

He said he had squeezed the trigger" and there was a bang.

He told the hearing that he was "heart-broken" by what had happened.

Kendrick said: "I knew him [Rifleman Vakabua] as a good friend. We got on very well. I stayed in the same room as Rifleman Vakabua.

"I made a mistake. I caused the death of a very good friend of mine and there is nothing I can do to change it."

A board of five Army officers - the military equivalent of a jury - took two hours to find him guilty.

Rifleman Vakabua, known as "Vaka", from Suva, Fiji, was serving in the Mortar Platoon attached to 7 Platoon, B Company.

The MoD described him as a "quiet, shy and pleasant character".

Capt Will Peltor, Rifleman Vakabua's platoon commander, said he was "a proud son of Fiji" whose death had hurt all of his colleagues deeply.