A comrade of a soldier who died after being shot through his helmet during a training exercise said he did not shoot at all because he couldn't see, an inquest has heard.
Private Conor McPherson, who was serving with A Company, 3 Scots - The Black Watch - was shot by another soldier while taking part in a training exercise on a shooting range. The 24-year-old was one of five soldiers taking part in the exercise at Otterburn Training Area in Otterburn, Northumberland.
An inquest into his death previously heard how a weapon was discharged, as the group moved towards a target on the training ground, and Pvt McPherson fell to the floor. Despite resuscitation attempts, he was pronounced dead at the scene on August 22, 2016.
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Northumberland Coroner's Court heard, during the third day of his inquest, how the training exercise was taking place at night time and they were using a light system which was mounted to their rifles. The hearing, sitting at County Hall in Morpeth, heard how they were told not to fire unless they could identify a target.
One of the five soldiers, former Private Chi Wan, told the court, during his evidence on Wednesday, how he did not fire any shots from his rifle at all that evening as he could not see anything. He said he brought his rifle up to look through it, when they were told the first target had come up, but he was unable to see it.
When asked when he realised he couldn't see anything through night vision, the former soldier replied: "At that time when I put the rifle up to my eye - it was pure white."
The witness initially said he didn't see another soldier, who was located to his left with Conor, taking any shots. He then said: "I'm not sure, I was concentrating, trying to find where the target was."
The jury heard how flares, which would light up the whole area if anything went wrong, should be used during night time exercises. A safety supervisor, who was at the scene during the incident, confirmed there had been no flare put up when Pvt McPherson was injured and two torches were used.
Another one of the five soldiers taking part in the exercise, former Private Jamie Easter, said, during his evidence, that he was ahead of the other four and could see clear enough to fire.
When asked about visibility, the ex-soldier told the inquest: "It wasn't the greatest, you did have to strain your eyes to distinguish the range. I could quite visibly see the individuals in the fire team looking to my left but for seeing the target it was difficult - but I could clearly see the target."
He told the jury how he recalled another soldier falling back by around two metres and he then heard "stop" being shouted three times. He said: "Maybe five or 10 seconds passed. I could see that people were using white light and they were crouched over Conor. Because of the distance, and because it was dark. I could just see there was light being used and it was facing to the ground."
When asked by Conor's family if he turned his head towards Conor at any point, the witness replied: "No, I was looking at the target."
ChronicleLive previously reported how a soldier had fallen behind the rest of the group after slipping. The court heard the soldier caught up with the rest of the group who were advancing down the range and were told to engage the second target.
Jurors were told a shot was fired and Pvt McPherson then hit the ground. The soldier, who was wearing HMNV night-vision goggles, told the court he couldn't see Pvt McPherson or the target because "it was pitch black".
The inquest continues.
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