Prosthetic leg
(53) After Afghan Male 2 had been killed by the Applicant, Person 6 retrieved the prosthetic leg and brought it back to base. To the Applicant's knowledge the prosthetic leg was subsequently:
- (a) brought back to the SASR base in Australia;
- (b) mounted and framed;
- (c) used as a prop in photographs; and
- (d) used as a beer drinking vessel by members of the troop, including the Applicant.
(54) By drinking from the prosthetic leg the Applicant, as a senior member of the troop, encouraged and contributed to a culture within the troop in which it was acceptable to drink from the prosthetic leg.
(55) The Applicant's conduct in drinking from the prosthetic leg and in encouraging and contributing to the culture referred to in the preceding paragraph was callous and inhumane.
209 The allegation with respect to Afghan Male 1 is one of a breach of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention and complicity in and responsibility for murder (Particulars (47) and (48)), and the allegation with respect to Afghan 2 is one of a breach of Common Article 3 and murder (Particulars (51) and (52)).
210 I begin by identifying some background matters. Whiskey 108 was the codename for an Afghan compound. The question of whether it was one compound or two adjoining compounds was alluded to in the course of the trial, but not answered. It is not necessary to resolve that issue. I will refer to the compound as W108. W108 is located in Deh Rafshan in the village of Kakarak in the West Dorafshan district of Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan. Although I refer from time to time to the mission to W108, it should be noted that after clearing W108, at least part of the troop went on to clear Whiskey 109 (W109) which was nearby.
211 A 500-pound bomb was dropped on the compound by Coalition Forces shortly before it was cleared. An unmanned aerial vehicle (ScanEagle) took photographs of W108 before, during and after the bomb was dropped. The photographs were produced at the trial. Almost every witness who gave evidence of events at W108 was asked to mark one or more of the photographs showing that witness' evidence concerning his position and the position of other soldiers at various points in time, the location of structures and areas, the direction of movements through the compound and the location of bodies and a number of other matters. I attach to these reasons for the assistance of the reader an unmarked aerial photograph of W108 before the bomb had struck the compound and an unmarked aerial photograph of W108 after
