He has been charged with obstructing/hindering/intimidating/resisting a Commonwealth official and causing harm to a law officer. Appearing via video link at Central Local Court on Wednesday afternoon,the man was granted bail. He will be permitted to return to his home overseas until he is next required in court.
Person X spent three days giving evidence for Roberts-Smith,who is suingThe Age,The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Canberra Times over articles that he claims portray him as a war criminal and murderer.
Person X was with Roberts-Smith during a 2009 mission at a village compound designated Whiskey 108 when the newspapers allege that two Afghan men were pulled from a tunnel and killed by SAS troops,contrary to the rules of engagement that prohibit the killing of unarmed prisoners.
Loading
Roberts-Smith is alleged to have directed a junior soldier,Person 4,to execute one of the men,on the orders of Person X,and to have shot the other one himself.
One SAS soldier who testified for the newspapers,Person 14,said that after the mission was over,he heard Person X saying,“I finally blooded the rookie”. Another soldier who testified for the newspapers,Person 24,told the court that he saw Roberts-Smith drop the other detainee to the ground and shoot him in the back,in what he interpreted as an “exhibition execution”.
Person X agreed under cross-examination that a total of five murder allegations had been made against the patrol he commanded with Roberts-Smith as his second-in-command,though only the two incidents at Whiskey 108 form part of the newspapers’ defence. The other three are alleged to have occurred a year later at a compound known as Whiskey 591.