Australian Army: Sergeant Timothy Self admits responsibility for Puckapunyal shooting range incident
A sergeant, who had key safety role at an Army shooting competition, has been punished for letting soldiers open fire at a range after forgetting a soldier was in a “danger zone” repairing a target
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A soldier was told to walk onto a shooting range to fix a target during a competition for elite snipers, but was forgotten about and was still out there when two bullets flew past him, a court has heard.
Sergeant Timothy Self, who had a key safety role during the Australian Army Skill at Arms Meet at Puckapunyal in Victoria last year, on Monday pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a general order.
Sgt Self, who appeared by video link from Townsville, had previously been charged with dangerous conduct, which prosecutors dropped following months of negotiations.
The Defence Force Magistrates Court in Canberra heard Sgt Self, 34, originally from Tasmania, was in charge of a shooting range failed to follow the army’s orders on shooting range safety when he ordered soldiers to begin shooting after he forgot Private Nathan Hirst was on the range fixing a target.
The army’s orders require the “range danger area” be cleared of people and vehicles before shooting begins.
Pte Hirst was not hit, and yelled “stop, stop stop!” after two bullets — fired from a soldier’s F88 assault rifle — went past him as he was walking back up the range.
The shooting stopped immediately, and Sgt Self reported the incident.
The court heard the competition was poorly run, understaffed and that Sgt Self was not given a set of now-mandated blue flags to put up when someone was on the shooting range.
Sgt Self’s fitbit showed he had walked more than 40km in two days while overseeing the shooting competition.
He was also hurrying through a group of shooters so they could catch a bus.
Defence Force Magistrate Brigadier Michael Cowan QC said working while tired was “a fact of soldiering” and that being exhausted was no excuse to not follow orders.
Sgt Self’s legal team argued a “series of events conspired against him to make a mistake”.
Sgt Self agreed the consequences could have been serious, with Pte Hirst dressed in camouflage and shooters trained to open fire when they saw a pop-up target of a soldier.
Sgt Self’s blunder, along with the shooting death of Victorian Private Jason Challis outside Darwin in 2017 had prompted the army to reform how it runs weapons drills, the court heard.
Brigadier Michael Cowan sentenced Sgt Self to a reduction in seniority of rank and fined him $5000, fully suspended.
An Australian Defence Force spokeswoman said: “The Australian Defence Force remains dedicated to ensuring the safety of all ADF personnel during training activities and on operation”.