A brazen Pfc. Lynndie England snuck off repeatedly to have late-night trysts with her lover at Abu Ghraib prison, where inmates were abused, her supervisor testified yesterday.
Between July 2003 and January 2004, England was caught in bed four times with Spc. Charles Graner Jr., the father of the child England is carrying, Spc. Matthew Bolinger said.
He said military officials tried several measures to keep England, 21, away from Graner in the “hard site” of the notorious Baghdad lockup.
At one point in late November, he said, England was ordered not to leave her quarters unescorted except for work, church, the latrine or meals.
Bolinger, who supervised England in processing paperwork at Abu Ghraib, said she showed up late, left early and did a sloppy job because of the late-night assignations.
“Her performance was not so good,” he said. “She had a lack of discipline. She was sneaking out in the middle of the night, going to the hard site.”
Bolinger’s testimony at a pretrial hearing in Fort Bragg, N.C., continued a government attempt to portray England as one of a handful of soldiers who took it upon themselves to photograph prisoners in humiliating poses.
England, photographed holding a naked Iraqi on a leash, faces 38 years behind bars if convicted of 13 counts of abusing inmates. She sat stone-faced in the courtroom.
Bolinger testified by telephone from Fort Lee, Va., where England’s 372nd Military Police Company has been stationed since returning from Iraq.
Also testifying by phone was Spc. Steven Strother, another unit member, who said England romped topless at midnight on a Virginia beach in March 2003, before the company deployed to Iraq.
Strother said he passed out drunk at the hotel and Graner took a picture of England exposing her breasts near the sleeping soldier’s face.
After that, he said, Graner exposed his penis next to Strother’s head and England took a photo.
“It was just a joke,” he said.
Spc. Matthew Wisdom said England appeared to be a willing participant in abusing prisoners.
Once, he said, she provided lewd commentary as guards forced two Iraqi prisoners to engage in a sex act.
When the hearing began Tuesday, investigator Paul Arthur said he interviewed England about the photos three months before they became public and she told him they were taken while “they were joking around, having some fun, during the night shift.”
Arthur said he believed the soldiers were responding to the stress of being in a war zone.
With Post Wire Services