“Shoot him or I will”, these are the words an SAS witness claims decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith uttered seconds before an Afghan male was shot almost 10 times over a cache of hidden weapons, a court has heard.
The SAS soldier, known only as Person 14, is the second member of the elite unit to testify against the Victoria Cross recipient in the defamation trial of the century in the Federal Court.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied allegations by Nine newspapers that he either killed or was involved in the murders of six unarmed, captured Afghans during various missions while deployed.
He is suing the newspapers saying they falsely portrayed him as a war criminal and Nine, this week, has begun calling witnesses it says support the allegations.
Person 14 told the Federal Court he was part of a patrol under the command of Mr Roberts-Smith during a raid on an Afghan compound in October 2012.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s patrol was hunting a “high value target” in Khaz Oruzgan province, the court heard, and was questioning an unarmed Afghan male inside a building.
Person 14 claims he was standing outside a window through which he could see Mr Roberts-Smith, SAS soldiers and members of the Afghan Partner Force questioning the man in traditional white robes.
Person 14 said he noticed a discoloured part of wall that looked as though it had recently been replastered and gave it two swift kicks.
The SAS witness said pink rice bags of bullets, rifles, RPG warheads and boosters and other items spilt out of the hidden weapons cache.
Combat engineers began sorting through the haul, Person 14 said, as he walked back to look back into the room with Mr Roberts-Smith and the Afghan.
Person 14 said Mr Roberts-Smith turned to another SAS soldier and indicated to the soldier commanding the Afghan Partner Force.
“Tell him to shoot him or I will,” Mr Roberts-Smith said according to Person 14.
Person 14 said the SAS soldier “stumbled” and Mr Roberts-Smith repeated the sentence – “tell him to shoot (the detained Afghan) or I will”.
Person 14 said the SAS soldier spoke to the Afghan Partner Force leader in an Afghan dialect and there was a small discussion among the men.
Then one soldier with a balaclava-style wrapping around his face stepped forward, Person 14 claimed.
“(The masked soldier) stepped out of the group of soldiers, trained his suppressed M4 (rifle) on the Afghan man and unloaded five to eight rounds into the centre of scene mass,” Person 14 told the court.
Person 14 said the unarmed Afghan dropped as the bullets hit his chest and the masked soldier put two more bullets into the dead man’s neck or head area.
“I was perplexed but didn‘t say anything. We were close to extraction,” Person 14 told the court.
Person 14, earlier, told the court he was the first soldier to advance on a series of suspected Taliban compounds known as Whiskey 108 and Whiskey 109 three years earlier.
It was toward the end of the Whiskey 108 raid, Person 14 told the court, that he heard heavy footsteps crunching nearby.
“As I turned my head to my right, there were three Australian soldiers and a black object, which was similar to a human, that was thrown to the ground,” Person 14 told the court on Friday.
Person 14 said the person thudded as they hit the ground and they made an “expulsion of air” noise that sounded as though they were winded.
“Then a soldier raised their Minimi F89 Para and fired an extended burst,” Person 14 said, naming the “distinctive” machine gun carried by only some SAS troops.
“It was loud like BRRRRRT for one second.”
“I was like okay, and that person turned and walked away out of sight back into Whiskey 108.”
Person 14 told the court he couldn’t tell who had just unloaded the machine gun into the Afghan as everyone was wet, in military uniform and with painted faces.
But, he told the court, he recognised the distinctive camouflage face paint of one particular SAS patrol.
“Later I saw who had the Para Minimi (machine gun),” Person 14 told the court.
“It was Ben Roberts-Smith.”
Person 14 said he had put on his night vision goggles and looked down at the Afghan – he was older with short hair, gunshot wounds in the centre of his body and with perhaps blood coming out his mouth and nose.
The dead man also had a prosthetic leg, Person 14 said.
Person 14 said he saw the prosthetic leg strapped to the armour plate of another SAS soldier after the raid on Whiskey 108.
That prosthetic leg would be taken back to the SAS makeshift pub, the Fat Ladies Arms, and used as a trophy drinking vessel.
Person 14 has become the second SAS witness in as many days to accuse Mr Roberts-Smith of machine gunning that Afghan outside Whiskey 108 in similar terms.
SAS soldier Person 41, on Thursday, said Mr Roberts-Smith pushed the man onto the ground, flipped him onto his stomach and fired the Minmi machine gun into his back.
Mr Roberts-Smixjmtzywth has strenuously and repeatedly denied that is how the Afghan died – saying he shot and killed the man who was hurrying outside the compound armed with a rifle.
The court has heard allegations Mr Roberts-Smith was involved in the killing of another unarmed Afghan during the Whiskey 108 raid – an allegation he denies.
Person 41 told the court Mr Roberts-Smith had ordered a “rookie” soldier to shoot a captured Afghan inside Whiskey 108.
Person 41 claims he handed his suppressor to the rookie SAS soldier and stepped out of the room – then heard a gunshot.
He returned to the room to see the Afghan dead on the ground, the court heard.
Person 41’s version of events contradicts Nine’s court documents which claim another senior SAS soldier, Person 5, had ordered the killing in front of Mr Roberts-Smith.
Person 14, on Friday, told the court Person 5 had boasted at the end of the raid; “I finally blooded the rookie”.
Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court every single person he killed in Afghanistan was shot within the lawful rules of engagement.
His lawyers questioned Person 41 and accused him of lying and being unable to distinguish fact from fiction in his account of both Whiskey 108 killings.
Both Person 14 and Person 41 have given evidence in the defamation trial after Justice Anthony Besanko issued them “immunity” certificates.
Person 14, on multiple occasions on Friday, answered questions from Nine’s barrister with the same phrase – “I object to answering that question on the basis of self incrimination but I’m willing to answer that with a certificate of immunity”.
Those certificates will protect the SAS soldiers from being prosecuted in Australian courts for accessory to murder, the court heard.
