Australian SAS comrade 'executed unarmed Afghan' lying on ground with machine gun, court hears

Ben Roberts-Smith pictured arriving at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney last June. Photo / Getty Images

A serving Australian special forces soldier has claimed he witnessed a highly decorated veteran shoot dead an unarmed Afghan man and order a colleague to execute a second man.

Ben Roberts-Smith launched defamation proceedings against three newspapers and three journalists for allegations published in 2018, which included his involvement in unlawful killings, domestic violence and bullying colleagues.

During the trial, which resumed Wednesday, publisher Nine Entertainment called a current Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) member given the pseudonym Person 41 to testify.

The witness claimed that on Easter Sunday in 2009 patrols were clearing a compound filled with rubble when they discovered a hidden room where they believed improvised explosive devices were being made owing to the presence of batteries, wires and a substance which subsequently proved to be opium.

Person 41 told the court he then saw Roberts-Smith and another soldier, Person 4, along with an older Afghan man wearing traditional clothing.

The witness said Person 4 asked to borrow his gun's suppressor. He said Roberts-Smith then "pointed to the Afghan and said, 'Shoot him'".

Roberts-Smith has described the allegation as "completely false", denying he instructed Person 4 to shoot the unarmed Afghan.

Person 41 went on to allege that Roberts-Smith threw another Afghan man to the ground and fired "three to four rounds" into him.

Accused Ben Roberts-Smith met the Queen at Buckingham Palace after receiving the Victoria Cross, the UK's highest military award. Photo / Getty Images

In July last year an Afghan villager, Mohammad Hanfia, told the court in the same defamation trial that a radio device was planted on the body of a dead Afghan farmer, Ali Jan, after Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked the unarmed man over a cliff in September 2012.

Shortly after the Brereton inquiry into war crimes allegations against Australian forces brought down its final report in 2020, Australian historian and lecturer on asymmetrical warfare and counter-insurgency, Dr Philip Chilton, told The Telegraph that Australia's special forces "are bred to have a warrior culture", and that it is "problematic" that the report appeared to "exonerate the higher command for responsibility for any of this".

"You can't have special forces that are trained to be expert killers, in a way that regular soldiers aren't, and expect them to do anything other than commit war crimes ... The report says higher command is not responsible, and places blame on the NCOs. Who is overseeing them? Where is the oversight of these officers?"

The trial continues.