Ben Roberts-Smith bragged that blowing the brains out of an unarmed and terrified adolescent Afghan man was “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” a special forces soldier has testified in court.
The witness, codenamed Person 16, recounted to the Federal Court on Friday pulling over a Toyota Hilux with four men inside on November 5, 2012.
The SAS soldier distinctly remembers a “baby face looking young man” with a patchy beard who appeared “shaking in terror”.
“He was extremely nervous trembling in fear, (he) looked absolutely terrified,” he said.
Person 16 learned there was an explosive device in the vehicle, and checked and detained the two men before Mr Roberts-Smith’s patrol collected them for tactical questioning.
About 20 minutes later the trained medic heard a radio call by Mr Roberts-Smith that two enemies were killed in action.
A day or two later he says he crossed paths with Australia’s most decorated living soldier in the army barracks.
“What happened to that young fella who was shaking like a leaf?” he said he asked Mr Roberts-Smith.
“And (he said) ‘I shot that c*** in the head.
“‘Person 15 told me not to kill anyone on the last job so I pulled out my nine mill and shot the c*** in the side of the head, I blew his brains out.
“‘It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.'”
Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister Arthur Moses SC suggested he “imagined” the entire conversation.
“That is absolutely false. This conversation 100 per cent happened. His reply shocked me to the core and that’s why I remember it,” he said.
Mr Moses suggested his memory was inaccurate due to the traumas of war, and that he had been influenced by media reporting.
Person 16 said he was “astonished” by the level of accuracy in news articles, but they played no part in his recollection of events.
The Victoria Cross recipient is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times, for defamation – denying their reports that he committed war crimes and murders in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.
Mr Roberts-Smith has strenuously denied all accusations of wrongdoing, and says he acted within the moral and legal rules of military engagement during his six tours of Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.
His legal counsel earlier denied the adolescent boy was ever killed, saying he was in fact released and the two deaths that day were “completely unrelated”.
On Friday Person 16 said he never reported the incident due to a “code of silence within the regiment”.
“The fear of retribution, it would have been a career-ending move.”
He also said he was worried for his personal safety, and did not want to put himself in danger by accusing “someone so influential”.
“So I thought I just best keep quiet and move on with life.”
The body of the Afghan was photographed with an AK-47 gun that was not on him when he first patted him down, he said.
He said he recalled Mr Roberts-Smith’s “formidable reputation” was of a no-nonsense individual who didn’t suffer fools.
But after joining the SAS he found there were “two camps”.
“Those for, and those against. Those against saw him as belligerent, a bully, (who) would trash and tarnish others’ reputations.”
Mr Moses questioned why Person 16 met with investigative journalist Nick McKenzie about the incident in 2018, given soldiers are forbidden from talking to the media.
“I didn’t disclose anything further about that job to him,” he said.
He is the third Australian witness called by the newspapers – who have mounted a truth defence – and follows another serving SAS soldier who spent nearly five full days giving evidence.
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