Senior soldier confirms Ben Roberts-Smith’s story, contradicts another
A senior SAS soldier has testified in the defamation case launched by Ben Roberts-Smith, backing claims made by the veteran but contradicting another of his key witnesses.
The soldier, referred to as Person 81, began his evidence in the Federal Court on Wednesday and is likely to be the last of 40 witnesses called by Mr Roberts-Smith in the year-long trial against Nine newspapers.
The court heard that Person 81 was heading a patrol of a Taliban compound known as Whiskey 108 in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province in 2009.
The newspapers alleged in their defence that two men who were found in a tunnel in Whiskey 108 were killed, with one elderly man being shot by a “rookie” on Mr Roberts-Smith’s orders, and the other, who had a prosthetic leg, being shot by Mr Roberts-Smith with a machine gun.
However, Mr Roberts-Smith denied the allegations as impossible and that “there were no men in the tunnel”. He said he shot and killed the man with the prosthetic leg, who was armed and running, outside the compound.
The 43-year-old said the elderly man was also killed outside the compound by another soldier who was unknown to him.
Person 81 backed up these claims, telling the court he heard no engagements at Whiskey 108 and wasn’t told of any insurgents being killed. He testified that he entered the compound after SAS troops stormed and secured the site, and that he saw Afghan civilians inside.
He also said he saw “body parts” amongst “rocket paraphernalia” in the rubble.
Defence barrister Arthur Moses SC, representing Mr Roberts-Smith, asked Person 81: “Did you see any engagements in the Whiskey 108 compound after the compound was declared cleared?”
“No,” Person 81 answered.
Moses: “Do you recall hearing any engagements while you were in the compound?”
Person 81: “No.”
Moses: “Do you recall reports of any engagements?”
Person 81: “No.”
Person 81 also said he “would have reported it” when asked if any members of his troop had told him that unlawful activity had occurred that day, as reported by 7News.
Though his testimony supports Mr Roberts-Smith’s claims, it contradicts evidence given by Person 5, Mr Roberts-Smith’s patrol commander, who said he heard gunshots from outside the compound during a “rendezvous (RV) meeting” with other patrol and troop commanders.
Person 5 told the court he discovered Mr Roberts-Smith killing an insurgent, who was later discovered to be the man with the prosthetic leg, and returned to the meeting after he confirmed the man was killed in action (KIA).
“When you went back to the RV meeting, did you say anything to Person 81 or anybody else?” Mr Moses asked Person 5 during his testimony.
“I informed Person 81 there were two KIA on the north-west corner of the compound,” Person 5 said.
Though it is undisputed that the two men were killed during the raid on Whiskey 108, the question of whether they were legitimately killed or unlawfully killed as prisoners has become a point of contention during the trial.
Mr Roberts-Smith and five other soldiers have said no men were found in the tunnel, while another five said there were men in the tunnel.
Person 4, another soldier who is alleged to have shot the elderly men on Mr Roberts-Smith’s order, has also refused to testify on grounds of self-incrimination.
Most of Person 81’s evidence was concealed behind a closed courtroom on Wednesday, and he is due to continue his testimony on Thursday before Justice Anthony Besanko.
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