An Australian military medic said he was “shocked to the core” after Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly boasted he “blew the brains” out of a young Afghan and it was “the most beautiful thing” he’d ever seen.
The Victoria Cross recipient has told the court the youngster was released alive, appearing to contradict a photograph of a dead Afghan that has emerged in court.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine and its journalists over a series of articles claiming he was involved in six unlawful killings while in Afghanistan.
He has denied each and every allegation saying he was falsely defamed – Nine maintains the articles are true.
A former Australian medic, assigned to Mr Roberts-Smith’s SAS regiment in Afghanistan, took the stand in the Federal Court to give evidence against him on Friday.
Person 16, as the medic is known, said he was with the SAS on a mission in 2012 in the region of Fazal when a Toyota Hilux approached.
Person 16 told the court he and another soldier stopped the Hilux and detained two unarmed Afghan males – one middle aged and one much younger who was “shaking in terror”.
The court heard one of the Australian soldiers searched the Hilux and found suspected components for improvised explosives so the two Afghans were cuffed and escorted to a nearby compound for questioning.
Person 16 claims he heard Mr Roberts-Smith’s voice come out over the radio a few minutes later saying “two EKIAs”; meaning two enemies killed in action.
A few days later, Person 16 told the court, he crossed paths with Mr Roberts-Smith in the sleeping quarters of the Australian base.
Person 16 said he asked Mr Roberts-Smith what happened to the young Afghan “who was shaking like a leaf” on the road side in Fazal.
“I shot that c*** in the head,” Person 16 claims Mr Roberts-Smith responded.
“Person 15 told me not to kill anyone on the last job so I pulled out my 9mil and shot that c*** in the side of the head.”
“(I) blew his brains out, it was the most beautiful thing I‘ve ever seen.”
Person 16 said he couldn‘t remember what he said in response as he was in shock.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses SC, suggested to the medic he was “imagining” the conversation.
“That is absolutely false,” the medic replied.
“This conversation 100 per cent happened and his reply shocked me to the core, and that’s why I remember it.”
Person 16 told the court he only asked Mr Roberts-Smith the question while no one else was in earshot because he suspected the young Afghan had been killed.
“That was a question pertaining to a war crime,” Person 16 said.
“I had a strong index of suspicion he was killed.”
Mr Roberts-Smith has emphatically denied the allegations made by Person 16 and his barrister Bruce McClintock SC told the court the detained young Afghan was released without harm.
“The three fighting-age males (in the HiLux) were arrested and taken to Tarinkot, the boy was released,” Mr McClintock told the court last year.
“There were two EKIA that day, but that (was) a completely unrelated incident and nothing to do with the HiLux.”
The medic was shown photographs which he told the court depicted the young Afghan dead with an AK47 variant rifle placed oxjmtzywn the body.
Person 16 told the court no AK47 was found on the young Afghan when the Hilux was stopped.
He said he was confident the image shown to him in court was that of the dead teenage Afghan.
Mr McClintock last year said the comments attributed to Mr Roberts-Smith were like that of the deranged commander in the war movie Apocalypse Now.
“It’s Colonel Kilgore on ice. It’s insane. It’s the sort of thing that would be said by an ostentatious psychopath,” Mr McClintock said at the opening of the trial last year.
Nine initially claimed Mr Roberts-Smith murdered the young Afghan in late October 2012 but later revised their court documents to claim it happened in November 2012.
When Mr Roberts-Smith gave evidence last year he said journalist Chris Masters knew it was false to accuse him of shooting the boy in October because he was in a totally different part of Afghanistan that day.
“I thought… being journalists they’d know I was, on that date, in a different part of Afghanistan,” Mr Roberts-Smith told the court in June.
“I felt they were being outright malicious, they knew I wasn’t there but they still wanted to say it.”
Mr Roberts-Smith’s actions in October 2012 were recorded in military records and would ultimately end up forming part of a bravery commendation and warranted a mention in Mr Masters’ book.
Person 16, on Friday, was compelled by Justice Anthony Besanko to reveal he had spoken to Nine journalist Nick McKenzie about the “HiLux job” and Mr Roberts-Smith’s alleged boast.
Person 16 told the court, on Friday, that Mr Roberts-Smith had a “formidable” reputation as a no-nonsense individual.
His detractors in the SAS claimed he would trash and tarnish the reputation of others, Person 16 said, while others supported him.
Person 16 did not report the comments by Mr Roberts-Smith, he told the court, because there was a “code of silence” within the SAS regiment.
The fear of retribution (it) would have been a career ending move,” he told the court.
“I would have been ostracised. I also think my personal safety – I would have been in danger by making such allegations against someone so influential.”
“I thought I just best keep quiet and move on with life.”
Person 16 told the court he had been medicated for “nightmares”, some of which about his time in Afghanistan, and the young Afghan was an unpleasant memory that returned to his mind from time to time.
