380 Person 18 said that during the exploitation process, he began searching the compound. He went back to the main entry point which was along the western wall and he commenced searching through the rubble; working in a clockwise direction from the entry point. A cache of rockets was found inside the walls.
381 While Person 18 was undertaking the SSE process on the western side of the compound, there was a radio call to the effect that a tunnel had been found, or a tunnel entrance, and that there is a person or people who have been pulled out of the tunnel. He went and gave assistance in relation to the tunnel. Person 18 can recall that there was a meeting of team commanders. When he started his exploitation, the team commanders were congregating around a point in the southern half of the compound which he marked on exhibit A117. However, the Commanders' RV was moved because they were all standing in the vicinity of a pile of rockets.
382 Person 18 was not expressly challenged by the applicant on his evidence as to the sequence of events and the discovery of the tunnel after the compound had been declared secure. He was challenged about the content of the radio call he said that he heard and the location of the Commanders' RV.
383 The challenge to Person 18's evidence by the applicant concerning the radio call appeared to relate to that part of the call which referred to a person or people being pulled out of the tunnel. The applicant's own witnesses referred to a radio call announcing the discovery of the tunnel. Person 5 said that he made the radio call to make everyone aware that "we had found a tunnel in case there were any other potential tunnels within the compound". Person 29 said that he could not recall whether he sent out a message that a tunnel had been found over the tactical net or he made a verbal call, "but I communicated the fact that we had found a – a tunnel". Person 35 recalled that at some point during the clearance he described in his evidence, a call over "our troop net came – came the call that a tunnel had been discovered".
384 With respect to the Commanders' RV, the suggestion made to Person 18 by counsel for the applicant that the Commanders' RV occurred outside, was not only denied by him, but not supported by any evidence.
385 Leaving to one side for present purposes the contentious aspect of Person 18's evidence about the content of the radio call, I accept Person 18's evidence as summarised above.
386 Person 40 was the 2IC in Person 29's patrol. He said that when they arrived at the compound, it was "in rubble; pretty much destroyed, yes". He said that after he had entered the compound,
