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Lance Sergeant Farai Mabasa (pictured outside Bulford Military Court) has been fined 14 days’ wages after failing to show up for duty at Buckingham Palace
A Grenadier Guard who missed duty to protect Buckingham Palace after drinking too much rum and falling asleep on the floor has been fined two weeks’ wages, a court martial has heard.
Lance Sergeant Farai Mabasa was scheduled to be on duty from 2 a.m. on August 12, but made the “very bad decision” to have a drink with a colleague in his barracks.
The soldier he was supposed to relieve on the duty of the Queensguard repeatedly called the 36-year-old to find him, but he had fallen asleep and missed the shift.
Finally, Lance Sergeant Mabasa, of the Nijmegen Grenadier Guards Company, was found unconscious on the floor of another guard at the nearby Wellington barracks.
When ordered to return to the palace later that morning, he showed up with an odor of alcohol, was court-martialed.
The Lance Sergeant initially pleaded guilty to two charges of incapacity for alcohol and failure to attend the service.
He was demoted in rank and sentenced to seven days in prison through internal disciplinary proceedings.
But under military rules, under that process, a person of the rank of Lance Sergeant cannot be ordered to be detained without special permission.
This permission was never asked and so the original sentence was quashed on an appeal hearing at the Military Court of Bulford, Wiltshire.
The father of two, who came to the UK from Zimbabwe in 2000 at the age of 14, was instead fined 14 days’ wages – around £1,365.
The court heard that the incident took place on August 12 while the late Queen was on her summer vacation in Balmoral.
Lance Sergeant Mabasa, of the Nijmegen Grenadier Guards Company, did not show up for a service at Buckingham Palace in August
Flight Lieutenant Charlotte Adams, the prosecution, said Lance Sergeant Mabasa finished a shift at Buckingham Palace at 10 p.m. and would return at 2 a.m.
She said: ‘[His colleague] checked his room and the waiting room but [Lance Sergeant Mabasa] wasn’t there. He tried to call him every five minutes, but he didn’t answer his phone.
‘Instead of [the colleague] remained on watch for the rest of the shift. Lance Sergeant Mabasa was found sleeping on the floor – he was drinking.
“He was ordered to report to Buckingham Palace at 8:30 am, where he stumbled into the alcohol-smelling waiting room. He was found unfit and sent back to Wellington Barracks.’
Flight Lieutenant Adams told the appeal hearing that Lance Sergeant Mabasa’s original sentence was “unlawful” given his rank.
She continued, “The aggravating thing here is that Sergeant Mabasa is an experienced military officer and should have known the implications of being intoxicated while on duty.”
He was eventually found unconscious on the floor of another guard at the nearby Wellington Barracks (pictured)
Alex Rynn, on the defensive, said Mabasa had used alcohol as a “crutch,” but since the incident, he’d gone to Alcoholics Anonymous three times a week, accepting the “destructive influence” it had.
Mr Rynn said: ‘[Lance Sergeant Mabasa] deeply ashamed – he knows he has done wrong and is rightly punished.
“Returning to the Queen’s Guard at 2 a.m., he made a bad decision, a very bad decision, to go out for a drink with a colleague.
“He drank rum and fell asleep, that’s why he didn’t answer his phone.”
Lance Sergeant Mabasa was initially demoted and sentenced to seven days in prison, but his sentence was overturned on technical grounds during an appeal hearing at the Military Court of Bulford, Wiltshire (pictured)
Judge Attorney General Darren Reed told Lance Sergeant Mabasa, “We take this seriously given the rank you held at the time. Your unfitness for duty is equally serious.
“We see this as a willful disregard for your duty – you have incapacitated yourself to perform.”
Referring to the initial demotion and the week-long detention, he added: “You cannot be detained because of your rank.
“That’s why we quash that penalty. You’ll be fined 14 days’ wages, about £1,365.”
Lance Sergeant Mabasa will retain his current rank.