He has already told the court he witnessed Mr Roberts-Smith kick an unarmed and handcuffed Afghan man off a cliff in Darwan in late 2012,before the man was shot dead.
But Person 4,whose name cannot be revealed for national security reasons,objected to answering a question on Monday by the newspapers’ barrister,Nicholas Owens,SC,about his recollection of events during a separate mission in Afghanistan on Easter Sunday,2009. Justice Anthony Besanko did not compel him to answer the question.
The court has previously heard evidence from a serving SAS soldier that Mr Roberts-Smith told Person 4 during the 2009 mission to shoot a captive Afghan man who had been discovered in a tunnel in a compound known as Whiskey 108.
“RS ... walked down and grabbed the Afghan male by the scruff of the shirt,picked him up,marched him a couple of metres forward[until] he was in front of Person 4,”the serving soldier,dubbed Person 41,said in early February.
“He then kicked him in the back of the legs behind the knees until he was kneeling down in front of Person 4. He pointed to the[Afghan man] ... and said to Person 4,‘Shoot him.’”
Person 41 said he heard but did not see the shots being fired,because he did not want to look. Shortly after he heard the shots,he saw a “dead Afghan male” at the feet of Person 4,Person 41 said.
On Monday,Mr Owens asked Person 4 if he would tell the court what he recalled happened at Whiskey 108.