line. The individual took cover behind some rocks. The applicant decided to go and clear the individual and he and Person 11 went to find a crossing point. The applicant swam across the river. He engaged the individual. He lifted the individual up and Person 4 attempted to take a photograph of the individual. The photograph was of poor quality and ultimately deleted. Some items were recovered from the individual. There was an AK-47 rifle, a length of det cord and an ICOM radio. The applicant's patrol then moved up to meet up with an element of troop headquarters. The weapon was handed over to the troop sergeant. Person 4 thinks that the det cord was placed in an evidentiary bag which was handed over. In cross-examination, Person 4 said that he could not recall the applicant putting his foot in the back of the insurgent's body to roll it down the embankment, although he conceded that it was possible such an event had occurred. He said that it was not possible that the applicant's later statement that "I kicked the cunt off a cliff" was said in the context of the engagement at the Helmand River.
1005 Person 56 said that the initial role of the applicant's patrol after the patrol had been inserted by helicopter was to patrol the river. There was an engagement during that operation. The patrol went firm into all round security. The applicant crossed the river and engaged an individual on the opposite side of the river "throughout his clearance". Person 56 did not see the engagement. He became aware of it by reason of a radio communication and the subsequent activity of the patrol photographing an EKIA. The applicant and the EKIA were on one side of the river and the rest of the patrol, including Person 56, were on the other side of the river. Person 56 recalls the applicant bringing an AK variant which had been struck by a round when he recrossed the river. In cross-examination, Person 56 said that he did not see the applicant use his foot to roll the dead insurgent down the side of the drain close to the river's edge. He accepted that it was possible it happened and he did not see it.
1006 Person 11 said that he understood that the role of the applicant's patrol was to insert some distance away from the target and then to manoeuvre towards the target area through any area that may potentially allow for people to try and escape the cordons. The applicant's patrol set up a cordon from one area. Person 11 described the applicant's engagement of the squirter at the Helmand River. He said that the applicant held the body up for identification purposes and then "dropped the body where it lay". Person 11 did not give any evidence about the applicant using one of his feet to push the body of the insurgent down a slope. Nor did he give any evidence of an ICOM radio being recovered from the insurgent. His recollection was that a rifle which had been impacted and a half a dozen electric detonators which appeared to be of
