An inquest into the death of a former soldier at the Australian embassy in Iraq has heard a colleague who was with him was self-medicating with hard drugs.

November 6, 2019

A former commando who saw a colleague shoot himself in the head after a drinking session at the Australian embassy in Iraq was self-medicating with Valium, an inquest has heard.

Christopher Betts, 34, was a private security contractor at the Baghdad embassy when he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on May 12, 2016.

He had been drinking with fellow contractor, Sun McKay, in the embassy living quarters, the Brisbane Coroners Court has heard.

Investigators were told Mr Betts picked up Mr McKay’s Glock 17 pistol, put it to his head saying “it’s time to play clear or not clear”, then pulled the trigger.

One of their former colleagues, Patrick O’Keeffe, told the inquest that a month before his death Mr Betts had confided that Mr McKay was “self-medicating” with Valium and harder pharmaceutical drugs.

He said Mr Betts also raised concerns about the way Mr McKay handled firearms at the embassy.

“His exact words were ‘Sun f**** around with weapons … he mentioned loading and unloading,” he said.

Mr O’Keeffe had been invited to drink with the men on the night of the shooting but declined because of Mr McKay’s previous behaviour with weapons. Once he pointed an unloaded rifle at Mr Betts’ head and pulled the trigger.

He was later woken about 3am and told there had been a shooting at the embassy.

“My first thought was Sun had shot Chris,” he said.

Earlier a colleague, Benjamin Turner, said Mr Mackay once pointed an unloaded rifle at him in the same room where Mr Betts died.

“I said ‘it’s the most f******* unprofessional thing I’ve ever seen’,” he said.

On the night Mr Betts died, Mr Turner spotted Mr McKay’s loaded pistol on a cupboard in the room where the shooting later occurred.

Contractors were instructed to keep their weapons in their rooms but generally they were unloaded and out of sight, he said.

Australian Federal Police were unable to determine if the death was caused by misadventure or suicide.

But Mr Betts’ family raised concerns about Mr Sun being in the same room and the absence of a suicide note.

“They were concerned Sun had killed Chris,” Australian Federal Police Detective Sergeant William Freeman has told the inquest.

Mr Turner said Mr McKay was a good friend but some fellow contractors regarded him as “a bit crazy”.

“Even my team leader pulled me aside once and said he was, but I guess, everyone was an ex-soldier so everyone was a bit out there anyway,” he said.

Another security contractor, Christopher Connolly, said that after the shooting Mr McKay’s version of that night’s events gradually changed to imply the death was a suicide.

“If I were to hazard a guess … he would realise he wasn’t supposed to have a loaded weapon in his room,” he said.

The inquest continues.