- Person 5 sent a message on the troop internal chat to the JTAC during which the following was said:
Person 5: "Where is the ISR platform and was it recording?"
JTAC: "No, I pushed the ISR off station before we made entry and pushed it into another area that was a threat area:.
- As I have said previously, the ISR is the intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance platform which flies above the area.
- Person 18 gave evidence that he heard this conversation while searching the rooms inside the western wall. The respondents' case is that this conversation took place shortly after the applicant had executed EKIA57. The respondents submit that the inference is that Person 5 was expressing frustration with how the applicant had done what he had done, rather than with what the applicant had done. In checking with whether there was a problem which needed to be addressed, Person 5 revealed that he was part of the plan which involved the two killings. This conversation overheard by Person 18 is addressed in detail below;
- (4) Person 5 said after the mission that he had "blooded the rookie". In particular, he had said "I" blooded the rookie;
- (5) The respondents submit that the reference to "squirters" in the Patrol Debrief was information provided by Person 5 and that that was a deliberate lie from which a consciousness of guilt should be inferred. The content of the Patrol Debrief is referred to above (at [584]); and
- (6) The respondents submit that Person 5's denials of those matters demonstrates a consciousness of guilt along with other lies concerning EKIA56.
706 Person 18 said that he had completed exploitation of the tunnel and had returned to the area where he was before going to the tunnel and he was conducting an exploitation of a hay shed and a small tool shed at the point he marked on exhibit A117. The applicant and Person 5 were standing outside and Person 18 marked on exhibit A117 where the applicant and Person 5 were. Person 18 said that he was no more than three metres away from the applicant and Person 5. The terms of the conversation overheard as related by Person 18 are set out above.
707 It was put to Person 18 that he had made up the account of the conversation between the applicant and Person 5 and it was something he had added to the rumour. Person 18's evidence was that he had not mentioned the conversation to anyone before the point in time at which he
