An SAS trooper has testified that he saw Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts Smith point to an Afghan prisoner and tell another soldier, 'shoot him.' 7NEWS
, alleging he was unlawfully defamed by claims he committed alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The newspapers have pleaded a truth defence.
Person 41 described stepping over the rubble of a bomb-destroyed wall to enter a courtyard where Mr Roberts-Smith and other soldiers were standing. Mr Roberts-Smith grabbed the Afghan man “by the scruff” of his shirt, marched him to Person Four and kicked out the Afghan’s legs to force him to kneel, facing away.The witness said he stepped back inside the opium room - “I didn’t wish to witness what was about to happen” - and heard a single, suppressed shot from a M4 carbine rifle.
He also labelled “completely false” an alternate claim that Person Four shot the man at Whiskey 108 on the orders of another SAS operator, codenamed Person Five.
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