Hearing to examine whether groundbreaking war crimes case can be brought to court

A former Australian SAS soldier accused of war crimes in connection with the alleged killing of an Afghan farmer in 2012 could spend well over two years having his case heard in the lower courts.

Oliver Jordan Schulz, 43, is accused of shooting Dad Mohammad three times in a wheat field in the Afghan province of Uruzgan while the 25 or 26-year-old man was lying on his back.

At a hearing in the Local Court at Sydney’s Downing Centre on Tuesday, prosecutors said they would make an application to summon witnesses during the transfer phase of the case.

The preliminary hearing is conducted before a justice of the peace of the local court, who decides whether there is sufficient evidence to take the case to a higher court.

A five-day hearing has been set for April, at which point the case will have been in local courts for two years following Schulz’s arrest in March 2023.

Karen Espiner, Schulz’s Perth-based lawyer, told the court via video link that she did not yet know the identities of the proposed witnesses but had been told there would be up to 10 of them.

Barrister Philip Strickland SC, representing the Commonwealth prosecutors, said the application for an interim injunction would be filed as soon as possible given the “considerable length of time” the case had already been heard at the lower court.

“We are very concerned … the case has been before this court for a long time,” he said.

“We do what is fastest.”

Schulz was arrested in March 2023 after the alleged victim’s father filed a complaint with the Australian Defence Force.

The former soldier was released on bail a week after his arrest after a judge found he posed a high risk of Taliban attack if he remained behind bars.

Schulz was the first former or serving member of the Australian military to be charged with a war crimes-related murder.

A five-day preliminary investigation was scheduled for April.

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