M4 rifle with a suppressor on it makes a noise that is capable of being heard by those in the vicinity.
737 The fact that, on the applicant's account of the engagements outside the north-western corner of W108, there would have been audible machine-gun fire (which Person 40 heard) and, assuming Person 4 was the second soldier, audible M4 rifle fire (which Person 40 did not hear) is relevant to the acceptance or otherwise of the applicant's account. However, I do not accept the respondents' submission that the failure of the applicant to put his case as to the engagements he said occurred can only be interpreted as driven by a fear that the witness would convincingly reject it. As I said in the context of Person 41, I do not think that the applicant was obliged to put his account to Person 40.
738 Person 14's evidence was that he was in the position he marked on exhibit R98. In other words, he was outside the compound on what was thought to be the north-western side near a cleared field. He said:
… and there was silence, I heard – I was – I was looking towards Whisky 109 and I heard, like, noise to my right, which was similar to stomping or heavy footsteps, and a little bit of, you know, chatter, some like kind of people talking. Wasn't clear to me. But anyway, it – it caught my attention, obviously, and as I turned to my right – my head, only my head to my right – there was like, three Australian soldiers, and a black object which was, like, similar to a human was – was thrown to the ground, and there was, like a – a thud when the – when that person hit the ground. There was a – that kind of noise, expulsion of air when someone is kind of winded, and – and then a soldier raised their Minimi F89 Para and fired, like, an extended burst. It was loud; it was, like ….. one second and I was, like, "Okay". And that person turned and walked away out of sight back into Whisky 108, which was – walked towards – on this one, point A.
739 The point "A" referred to in this answer by Person 14 is the location of an entry/exit point along the western wall of the compound.
740 Person 14 marked the location of the object which looked like a human body thrown on the ground on exhibit R98. Person 14 did not recognise the soldier who fired the weapon. However, he noticed the camouflage paint of the soldier. It was the brown and grey camouflage paint of Person 5's patrol. He saw that out of the three people he observed, two had "that highly illuminated grey – brown cam paint". As the respondents point out, grey camouflage paint can be seen on the face of the applicant on p 25 of exhibit R18. Person 14 said that the other two soldiers were standing there observing. The respondents submit that in light of Person 41's evidence, it is possible that one of the soldiers who Person 14 observed was Person 41. In addition, it is to be noted that Person 40 was, on his own account, present in that same general
