'She waited six years for this day': KBR 'rape victim' finally gets her day in court



Clerical worker 'raped so violently her breast implants were ruptured and pectoral muscles torn'

Trial expected to last three weeks

Victim: The trial regarding the rape of former KBR/Halliburton employee Jamie Leigh Jones has finally commenced

Almost six years to the day since she claims she was drugged and raped by her co-workers while working in Iraq, Jamie Leigh Jones is finally having her day in court.

The 26-year-old, from Texas, is one of several female contract workers for KBR and its former parent Halliburton Co. who claim they were sexually assaulted or harassed while working for the companies in Iraq.

Ms Jones said that while she was a clerical worker at Camp Hope in Baghdad, she was raped so violently her breast implants were ruptured, her pectoral muscles were torn and she was severely bruised.

When she reported the rape to KBR officials, she said they placed her under armed guard, held her in a shipping container for hours and wouldn't allow her to make a phone call.



Ms Jones was able to convince one of the guards to let her use his phone, and she called her father in the United States.

She is suing the company, Halliburton and a former KBR firefighter she says was one of her rapists.

The lawsuit said: 'When she awoke the next morning still affected by the drug, she found her body naked and severely bruised, with lacerations, blood running down her leg, her breast implants ruptured, and her pectoral muscles torn – which would later require reconstructive surgery.'

Campaign: The Jamie Leigh Foundation website is dedicated to helping U.S. citizens and legal residents who are victims of crime while working abroad

Former KBR contractor Mary Beth Kineston, left, is hugged by Jamie Leigh Jones as former KBR employee Dawn Leamon looks on, right, before the Senate forum hearing

Accused: Charles Bortz was accused of carrying out the sex attack on Jamie Leigh Jones in Iraq in 2005

Her account was confirmed by U.S. Army physician Jodi Schultz.who gave the rape kit she used to gather evidence from Ms Jones to KBR security forces.

The rape kit later disappeared and was recovered two years later, but missing crucial photographs and notes, according to the Guardian.

Her attorney Lannie Todd Kelly said yesterday in his opening statement that as far back as 1998, KBR created a hostile working environment in which employees who were sexually assaulted or harassed were scared into not reporting what happened to them or were fired while their harassers were promoted and protected by the company.

He said: 'KBR did a lot to keep this secret. KBR doesn't take care of its people.

'Jamie has waited six years to have her day in court and she’s happy to finally talk to a jury.'



Court: Jamie Leigh Jones pauses during a hearing before the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee

On duty: Jamie Leigh Jones was a clerical worker in Camp Hope, Baghdad, when she was allegedly raped during U.S. military operations

He told jurors that Ms Jones asked to be transferred to Iraq after being sexually harassed by a supervisor in Houston. Once overseas, she endured 'catcalls' from men in the predominantly male barracks where she lived, he said.

She said that on July 28, 2005, she was drugged with what she believes was Rohypnol and then raped in her room by former KBR firefighter Charles Bortz and several others.



Andrew McKinney, one of Bortz's attorneys, told jurors his client and Ms Jones had consensual sex.



Bortz has filed a countersuit against the 26-year-old that the jury also will decide at the trial.



Attorneys for KBR were also scheduled to present their opening statements. Daniel Hedges, one of the attorneys for KBR and Halliburton, has previously said the companies 'welcome the opportunity to present what really happened in Iraq'.



The Houston-based companies split in 2007.



KBR and Halliburton had contended that Ms Jones' case should be settled through arbitration as stipulated in her contract. But an appeals court let her lawsuit, first filed in 2007, go to trial.

