Lachlan Keogh: Army soldier shot mate in leg in Afghanistan, Defence Force Magistrates Court told

AN elite Darwin-based soldier who hopes to train as a sniper and join the SAS has admitted to ‘foolishly’ shooting his mate in the leg last year

Private Lachlan Maxwell Keogh has pleaded guilty to recklessly discharging a weapon at a Defence Force Magistrates Court hearing in Canberra. Picture: Facebook/Supplied

AN elite Aussie soldier who hopes to train as a sniper and join the SAS has admitted to “foolishly” shooting his mate in the leg in Afghanistan last year.

Darwin-based Private Lachlan Maxwell Keogh, 21, fronted the Defence Force Magistrates Court in Canberra on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to recklessly discharging a weapon.

Private Keogh was in the final days of his posting at Camp Grant at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul last year.

The court heard another soldier had just finished cleaning his Browning 9mm pistol and had it out on a table when, in a moment of “sheer foolishness” Private Keogh picked up the pistol, cocked it, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit the concrete floor, and a fragment hit one of Private Keogh’s best mates in the leg.

A doctor fished out the bullet fragment and the minor wound required six stitches.

Private Keogh later told investigators it was common for soldiers to check each other’s weapons to make sure they had been properly cleaned.

Private Lachlan Maxwell Keogh, 21 has pleaded guilty to recklessly discharging a weapon. Picture: Facebook/Supplied

But prosecuting officer Lieutenant Matthew Fielding said Private Keogh had “no business” in picking up another soldier’s gun and pulling the trigger without checking whether it was loaded, especially around other troops.

Lieutenant Fielding said it was a “particularly serious example of the negligent discharge of a weapon”.

Private Keogh’s defending officer said his client was an exemplary young soldier who had been identified as having the potential to serve in the elite SAS.

He said Private Keogh’s “thinking was seriously lacking in clarity” in the final days of an eight month posting to Afghanistan, and that the whole incident boiled down to a “sheer foolishness”.

“He accepts that, and he is desperate to make amends for the serious error made last year,” he said.

“It was an out of character, momentary lapse of judgment due to a failure of judgment.

He said Private Keogh, originally from Armidale, was dedicated to the army, supremely fit, hard working.

An army report said it was expected Private Keogh would “in time … apply for special forces selection” but that a serious weapons offence on his military record would hurt his promotion prospects, regardless of his career prospects.

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Just being charged, the court heard, had been a “salutary lesson” for Private Keogh.

Defence Force Magistrate Brigadier Michael Cowen QC is expected to sentence Private Keogh on Thursday.

Originally published as Lachlan Keogh: Army soldier shot mate in leg in Afghanistan, Defence Force Magistrates Court told