Overview
- The former SAS soldier was detained at Sydney airport on Tuesday after flying in from Brisbane, according to the Australian Federal Police.
- Police said he faces five counts tied to killings of unarmed civilians and prisoners between 2009 and 2012, and the charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
- Allegations include pushing a bound farmer off a cliff at Darwan and shooting a captive with a prosthetic leg near the Whiskey 108 compound, with claims of a rookie‑initiation killing known as a “blooding” ritual.
- The arrest followed years of work by the Office of Special Investigations and federal police that began after a 2020 inquiry reported 39 unlawful killings by Australian special forces.
- He denies wrongdoing, though a 2023 federal court ruling in his failed defamation case found the media reports were, on the civil standard, overwhelmingly likely to be true.