Apache pilot thought marines accused of murder were going to man’s aid

Court martial of three British soldiers hears that marine said he had ‘broken the Geneva convention’ after Afghan’s death

A British Apache helicopter pilot has told the court martial of a group of Royal Marines accused of executing an Afghan man that he believed the group was carrying the wounded man away to give him first aid.

The marines, none of whom can be identified, are accused of murdering the Afghan man, believed to be an insurgent, after the attack helicopter pilot had left the scene in Septermber 2011.

It is claimed that one of the marines, identified only as marine A, shot the injured man in the chest and told him : “There you are, shuffle off this mortal coil, you cunt. It’s nothing you wouldn’t do to us.”

A few moments later A allegedly told colleagues: “Obviously this doesn’t go anywhere fellas. I’ve just broken the Geneva convention.”

The prosecution alleges two other marines, B and C, “encouraged and assisted” A. All three deny murder.

On the second day of the hearing the Apache pilot, who was also granted anonymity, described how he had been told to track an insurgent thought to have been involved in an attack on a British patrol base in Helmand.

The pilot said a ground commander had given him the authority to “engage” the man, who was in an open field. The court martial heard that 139 rounds of 30mm ammunition were fired at the man.

When the Apache descended to around 500ft, the pilot said he could see a “motionless figure” on the ground. A patrol that included A, B and C, went to carry out an assessment of what had happened and the pilot heard that the man was still alive. He told the military board hearing the trial that he thought the marines were moving the man from the middle of a field to a line of trees to give him first aid.

On Wednesday the court martial was shown video footage of the helpless, bloodied man being dragged across a field and the moment marine A allegedly shot him in the chest.

The footage was captured by a camera fixed to the helmet of marine B. The third marine, C, later allegedly wrote in his journal that he had wanted to shoot the captive in the head and had been upset that he had not fired the fatal round. “I felt no pity for him; fucker had been shooting up our boys,” he is said to have written.

In his opening remarks, David Perry QC, prosecuting, told the court martial that the prisoner posed no threat. He said: “This killing was not in the heat of armed conflict. It amounted to an execution, a field execution, the execution of a man entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.”

The court in Bulford, Wiltshire, heard that marine A was an experienced serviceman considered a safe pair of hands. Both he and marine B are non-commissioned officers.

C was a respected operator of the metal detector used to search for roadside …read more