Rape Claim Against KBR in Iraq

HOUSTON (CN) - Halliburton and KBR put "flimsy and poorly made" locks on employees' living quarters at a base in Balad, Iraq, allowing a KBR maintenance man to break into a contract worker's room and rape and beat her, the woman claims in Federal Court.

The victim, who was working for Service Employees International, says "John Doe Rapist" first came to her room briefly.

"The rapist claimed to be checking her bathroom then left after only a few moments," according to the complaint.

She says the man returned three days later and broke in when she was sleeping, and beat her.

"She tried to bite his hands through his dirty work gloves, which only caused him to bite her in return," the complaint states. "She felt as though he was trying to rip her eyeballs out of their sockets and twist her lips off of her face."

The man choked her with a rope and she passed out, she says. When she regained consciousness, she says, he was raping her.

The woman says her living quarters at the base were a room in a shipping container, and she was the only night-shift worker housed in the vicinity of her room. During the assault, "'T' walls intended to protect people from shrapnel and bombardments served to muffle the victim's cries for help," she says.

She seeks punitive damages from KBR and SEIU for negligence, breach of contract and fraud. She claims the defendants did not warn her about the repeated sexual assaults of women in Iraq by U.S. citizens. She also sued John Doe rapist.

She is represented by Lloyd Kelly of Houston.

KBR and other Pentagon contractors have been sued repeatedly on allegations that their female contract workers were drugged and raped by co-workers in Iraq.

Follow @cam_langford

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit