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In case you missed it, whistleblower David McBride shared confidential documents with journalists due to arrogance and pursuit of personal justification rather than a pure sense of duty, the prosecutor argued.

It has demanded that the former military lawyer be jailed for more than two years.

While defense lawyer Stephen Odgers, SC, told the ACT Supreme Court on Monday that his client was motivated by exposing what he believed to be criminal behavior by the military’s top brass, Crown prosecutor Patricia McDonald, SC, said McBride never articulated through official complaints what the actual crime was before the files were leaked.

“He actually did this for personal justification,” McDonald said, adding that McBride was under the impression that “he was better and knew more than others, and eventually this would be revealed.”

McBride pleaded guilty in November to three charges, including theft of Commonwealth property and breaching the Defense Act, after his legal team failed to convince Judge David Mossop to let them argue before a jury that although he commanded ignored, had a duty to act. in the public interest.

The classified documents leaked to journalists by McBride led to a series of reports alleging that Australian Special Forces troops had committed war crimes in Afghanistan, contrary to McBride’s claims.

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