A former elite Commando soldier has accused Ben Roberts-Smith of instructing his squadmates to execute Afghan prisoners and cover up war crime murders during training exercises in Australia.
But Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers say the former Commando blames Mr Roberts-Smith after his soldiering career ended in a fatal car crash, missing bullets and a military prison.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers and journalists over allegations they published that he killed six prisoners, known as Persons Under Confinement (PUCs), while deployed in Afghanistan.
The Victoria Cross recipient denies every allegation of war crimes while Nine has been calling former Australian Defence Force soldiers to back up their claims.
The latest witness for Nine is known as Person 19 – a soldier who deployed to Afghanistan four times with the Commando unit.
The Commandos are frontline special forces soldiers who get up close with the enemy in dangerous missions.
Person 19 had joined the SAS and was assigned to Mr Roberts-Smith’s patrol in 2012 and was training with the unit in Australia ahead of a deployment to Afghanistan.
The troop was running “live fire” training where real bullets were being used as the SAS assaulted a mock-up Afghan village at Lancelin, a training area near Perth.
Some soldiers were dressed up as Afghan civilians, the court heard.
Person 19 told the court that the SAS patrol had secured a compound and detained one soldier, known as Peron 9, who was dressed in Afghan traditional robes.
Person 19 told the court Mr Roberts-Smith turned to another soldier and ordered him to execute Person 9.
“I want you to shoot the PUC,” Person 19 claimed Mr Roberts-Smith said.
“I remember that distinctly, it was unusual and I remember seeing the look on Person 9’s face… because no one expected to hear that phrase.”
Person 19 said the soldier being instructed by Mr Roberts-Smith either shot the ground or said “bang” to indicate Person 9 had just been executed.
At another training exercise at Bindoon, outside Perth, Person 19 said the SAS patrol was again simulating a raid on an Afghan compound.
Person 19 told the court, on Tuesday, that he recalled Mr Roberts-Smith was explaining that PUCs would be executed before officers arrived at the end of a real mission.
“That’s when any people we suspect of being enemy combatants we take them into a room and shoot the c***s,” Person 19 claims Mr Roberts-Smith said.
Person 19 also told the court that Mr Roberts-Smith and another patrol commander were saying that “throwdowns” could be used in assaults.
The court has previously heard “throwdowns” are when weapons or radios are placed on killed unarmed Afghans before their bodies are photographed.
The planting of such evidence could be used to justify illegal killings, the court has heard, and Mr Roberts-Smith has repeatedly denied he ever used throwdowns.
Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court he had never even heard of anyone in the xjmtzywSAS using throwdowns.
Person 19 told the court he had gone to a cafe, up the road from the Perth SAS base, with Mr Roberts-Smith when Mr Roberts-Smith spoke of “blooding” rookie soldiers..
“New members of the troop or patrol, who had never deployed before or shot anyone, had to prove their worth by having the fortitude to shoot a prisoner if required,” Person 19 told the court.
Mr Roberts-Smith has previously denied allegations, made by another SAS operator, that he ordered a rookie soldier to execute a captured Afghan in 2009.
Nine has never claimed Mr Roberts-Smith ordered the shooting but claims he stood by and let it happen, putting them at odds with their own witness to that claim.
Just five days before Person 19 was to deploy with Mr Roberts-Smith and the SAS his military career unravelled.
He told the court he left the Perth SAS base with a bag of ammunition, body armour and flashbang grenades in his car.
The elite soldier told the court he didn’t realise he had ammunition in the car and it was just an accident – but his car was stolen that night.
The court heard the car thief led police on a chase that ended in a fatality and numerous headlines.
Person 19 was investigated by the military police, charged for losing service property and prejudicial behaviour, and found guilty.
He served 42 days in a military prison, the court heard, and then the ADF discovered his girlfriend was living in his military-funded house without permission.
Person 19 told the court he lied on an official statement, telling the ADF his girlfriend did not live with him, but the truth came out.
That was the final nail in the coffin of Person 19’s military service and he was discharged in 2014.
“I was very disappointed, I lost a 14 year career because of a couple of very silly errors in judgment,” he told the court.
“It would ruin my career.”
Person 19 told the court he had limited contact with members of the SAS since leaving the military in 2014.
But he had remained in contact with a soldier called Person 10 both during the 2012 deployment and since then.
He told the court Person 10, while deployed in Afghanistan, phoned up and said Mr Roberts-Smith had punched him.
Person 10 was considering making a formal complaint, Person 19 said.
Person 19 claimed Mr Roberts-Smith had also called him to talk about the incident and Mr Roberts-Smith said “that c*** better not say anything or I’ll get him charged for war crimes”.
Person 19 also told the court he had gone kayaking with Chris Masters, one of Nine’s journalists facing the lawsuit, and had attended the Sydney launch of Mr Masters book about the SAS.
The trial continues.
