War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith directed another soldier to kill an Afghan detainee during a mission, a serving SAS soldier has told the Federal Court | mwhitbourn
, now under separate ownership, for defamation over a series of reports in 2018 that he says portray him as a war criminal.The defamation trial resumed in the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday after a six-month break with evidence from Person 41, a Special Air Service soldier who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 at the same time as Mr Roberts-Smith.
Person 41 said he had discovered a room containing materials to make improvised explosive devices as well as a “black sticky substance” he later learned was opium. He told the court he heard “louder voices and talking and a bit of a commotion outside” and went to investigate.“Just beyond them ... was an Afghan male, squatting down,” he said. “An older male, dressed in traditional Afghan loose top and clothing ... short, cropped hair.
He said Mr Roberts-Smith and Person 4 began to walk back towards the Afghan man squatting against a wall and he “thought to myself, ‘I think I know what’s about to happen here.’ “I heard a single suppressed shot which I knew was from an M4 rifle. I have fired thousands and thousands of rounds from an M4 with a suppressor on, and I know what it sounds like. I waited in that room for probably another 15 or so seconds.”When he returned to the courtyard, there was a “dead Afghan male” at the feet of Person 4, he said. Person 4 returned the suppressor to him, he said, and it was still warm. “I knew it had just been used to shoot that Afghan.”.
The trial resumed temporarily for a week in July to hear evidence from a group of Afghan villagers, who spoke via video link from Kabul, before it was adjourned. Some of their evidence may also be heard in closed court sessions involving only the judge, the parties and their lawyers.