SAS soldier says he and Ben Roberts-Smith killed Taliban ‘spotter’

An SAS soldier has contradicted claims by Nine newspapers that the pair murdered a detainee who had been kicked off a cliff.

Ben Roberts-Smith outside court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

An SAS soldier has described how he and Ben Roberts-Smith engaged and killed a Taliban “spotter” carrying a radio and hiding in a cornfield, directly contradicting claims by Nine newspapers that the pair murdered a detainee who had been kicked off a cliff.

The newspapers allege Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a handcuffed Afghan farmer named Ali Jan off a cliff in the village of Darwan in September 2012, and then, with another soldier codenamed Person 11, dragged him aside in a dry creek bed and shot him.

However, Person 11 gave a very different account of the ­incident in the Federal Court on Tuesday, insisting the Afghan man he encountered was lawfully engaged under the rules of war. The soldiers were hunting for a rogue Afghan army sergeant who two weeks earlier had killed three Australian soldiers.

Person 11 said the team was making its way to an extraction point at the end of the mission, to be picked up by helicopters, when he saw a man in the cornfields about 20m away “moving in a very suspicious manner”.

“I saw this person was carrying a radio, which led me to make the assessment that this was a spotter that had come to report on our dispositions and movements,” he said. “The individual trying to remain concealed. Our helicopters were on approach and I assessed this person posed a direct threat to our extraction and to friendly forces so I engaged him.”

Person 11 said he fired a burst of three or four rounds at the man with his M4 rifle, and realised Mr Roberts-Smith, behind him, was also shooting at the man. Person 11 said that, at this point, he couldn’t see another member of the patrol known as Person 4, who was serving as second in command to Mr Roberts-Smith.

Person 4 has previously given evidence on behalf of the newspapers that Mr Roberts-Smith had kicked a detainee down a cliff at this point in the mission.

Person 4 said the man was “catapulted backwards and fell down the slope”, where he landed in a dry creek bed. Person 4 said Mr Roberts-Smith then instructed him and Person 11 to drag the man to a nearby tree. He then heard shots ring out and turned to see ­Person 11 with his rifle in the firing position. Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith or Person 11, or both, killed Ali Jan.

Mr Roberts-Smith has previously given evidence that the incident did not happen.

Person 11 also gave evidence about another killing at Darwan earlier in the mission.

Nine originally claimed in its truth defence – though not in its newspaper articles – Mr Roberts-Smith had shot dead an unarmed man after swimming across the Helmand River to search for a suspected spotter. The newspapers later dropped the claim. On Tuesday, Person 11 said he had seen an individual moving on the other side of the river, carrying a weapon in a sack under his arm, partly concealed, but which appeared to be an AK47 assault rifle.

Person 11 said the man was a legitimate target trying to flee and that he thought it could even have been the turncoat Afghan soldier they were hunting. He said Mr Roberts-Smith returned dragging the man’s body so it could be photographed and carrying the AK47. The trial continues.