General
Defence Department set to plead guilty over soldier’s death during live-fire exercise
A three-week trial over the death of a young soldier in the Northern Territory has been scrapped and charges have been amended, with a lawyer indicating the Defence Department is likely to plead guilty.
Key points:
- The Defence Department is expected to plead guilty over the death of a young soldier in the NT
- Private Jason Challis died after being shot in the head during a live-fire training exercise
- The Army conceded the death was preventable and said: “We must do better”
Twenty-five-year-old Victorian soldier Private Jason Challis died after he was shot during a live-firing exercise at The Australian Defence Force’s Mount Bundey training site 130 kilometres south-east of Darwin in 2017.
The Army conceded during a 2018 coronial inquest…
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