Officer cadets 'waterboarded' Sandhurst colleague Published duration 10 June 2019

image copyright Getty Images image caption The incident was said to have happened at the Army's Sandhurst officer training college

Two Army officer cadets "waterboarded" a colleague at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, a court heard.

Jonathan Cox, 25, and Edward Wright, 24, both deny battery and are standing trial at Bulford Military Court near Salisbury.

They allegedly confronted Edward Flower, now a Second Lieutenant with the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, just after 18:00 BST on 7 August.

Mr Flower told the court: "It made me feel massively dehumanised."

Mr Flower said Mr Cox blocked the entrance to his room, and so he tried to crawl between his legs.

He told the jury Mr Wright then squatted on his face while Mr Cox held his ankles.

'Suffocating motion'

"Officer Cadet Wright picked [a field dressing] up and stated 'let's waterboard him'," said Mr Flower.

He said the dressing was placed across his eyes, nose and mouth, tight enough to stay in position.

Mr Flower said Mr Cox then picked up a water bottle and "proceeded to pour a continuous amount of water" over his face.

"It was a suffocating motion, being completely blindfolded you didn't have any sense of what's really going on," he said. "It made me feel massively dehumanised."

He said Mr Wright then pulled back the field dressing, keeping his eyes covered, and poured water over his exposed nose and mouth for 15-20 seconds.

He estimated that a total of about 500ml of water was poured over his face.

'Sucked up'

"My mouth was open at the beginning until [I was] struggling to swallow, so I closed it in an attempt to make breathing easier," Mr Flower said.

"It then started to be sucked up my nose."

He said he felt distressed and vulnerable and the incident only stopped when a colleague emerged in the corridor.

Mr Flower said he then went into his bedroom and locked the door, later disclosing what had happened to two friends.

The trial continues.

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