The only witness to the death of a former soldier at the Australian embassy in Iraq has been told he can’t give evidence via videolink, he has to turn up.

November 7, 2019

The only witness to an elite former soldier’s death at the Australian embassy in Iraq will have to front an inquest after his bid to provide evidence via video link was rejected by the Queensland Coroner.

Bodyguard Christopher Betts, 34, shot himself in the head on May 12, 2016 after a night of drinking with fellow security contractor, Sun McKay, in the Baghdad embassy living quarters.

Mr Betts picked up Mr McKay’s loaded Glock 17 pistol, held it to his head and said: “It’s time to play clear or not clear,” Mr McKay has told investigators.

He then pulled the trigger, Mr McKay said. 

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

The inquest into the death this week has heard several of the men’s former colleagues say Mr McKay was a “loose cannon” who often played with his weapons in the living quarters.

On Thursday, Mr McKay’s lawyer Jamie Whitehead asked Coroner Terry Ryan if his client could give evidence via video link following “adverse” media attention.

He told the Brisbane court it would be difficult for Mr McKay to concentrate with media in the court and may even hamper his ability to give evidence.

But Betts’ family’s lawyer, Patrick McCafferty QC, opposed the application saying Mr McKay was not a vulnerable witness and the reporting had been fair and accurate.

“Mr McKay is the only person alive that can shed any light, assuming it’s true evidence, on what happened at 2.30am on 12 May,” he said.

“It’s necessary and vital for Your Honour to see him give evidence to assess his demeanour.”

One of Mr Betts and Mr McKay’s former United Resources Group colleagues, George Flower, helped physically restrain Mr McKay in the minutes after Mr Betts was shot.

He said Mr McKay appeared to be suffering shock and was impeding efforts to save Mr Betts’ life through his actions.

“His eyes were red, his eyes were glazed, he stunk of booze … hammered,” he said.

“The guy wasn’t the normal, nice, calm guy I knew prior to the incident.”

Mr Flower said Mr McKay’s story changed in the hours after the shooting and he formed the view Mr McKay may be “playing out” at being in shock.

Mr Flower said he didn’t believe Mr Betts committed suicide.

He said it was more likely to have been an accidental shooting when Mr McKay was practising loading and unloading his weapon.

Or, an alcohol-affected Mr Betts may have unintentionally killed himself with Mr McKay’s pistol, not realising it was loaded.

He said McKay was unlikely to admit this because contractors were supposed to unload weapons before they took them into their rooms.

However, the men’s team leader, Simon Hansen, said Mr McKay was a “very proficient” weapons handler, who always followed the rules.

“Operationally, on the range, I’d never ever had a problem,” he said.

“He was a pretty good operator.”

The inquest continues.