The BBC's Alastair Leithead was in court as the hearing
began
A US soldier who killed 16 civilians
in Afghanistan has been confronted by a victim, as his sentencing heard graphic
details of the massacre.
Staff Sgt Robert Bales, 39, gunned down men, screaming children and elderly
women, a jury at Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord was told.
Mohammad Haji Naeem, whose son was killed, asked Sgt Bales why he carried out
the shootings.
In June, he admitted the March 2012 massacre in a deal to avoid
execution.
A military jury of six must decide whether or not he will ever be eligible
for parole. The sentencing phase of the court martial will last from one to two
weeks.
'Weapon on burst'
On Tuesday, one of nine Afghan villagers flown out to attend the trial
angrily challenged Sgt Bales in court, which is south of Seattle.
Staff Sgt Robert Bales was wearing full military uniform as the judge began
the hearing. Prosecutor Lt Col Jay Morse said witnesses on the Afghan base had
described how Sgt Bales was "covered in the blood of his victims" after the
massacre. Asked whose blood it was, he "shrugged his shoulders", the court
heard.
After the attack, Sgt Bales told colleagues: "I thought I was doing the right
thing. I'm sorry I let you guys down. My count is 20," referring to the number
of Afghans he believed he had killed.
Sgt Bales listened to testimony translated from Pashtu as Mohammad Haji Naeem
confronted him in court. Mr Naeem was shot in the jaw at close range, while his
son was killed. A 12-year-old boy, Sadiquullah, told the court of his fear as
Sgt Bales came into the compound and shot him in the ear, fracturing his skull.
Mohammad Haji Naeem was shot in the face at close range
while his son was killed in the attack, near a remote base in Kandahar
province.
"What have I done for you to shoot me in the jaw?" Mr Naeem asked the
killer.
For more than an hour and a half, Army prosecutor Lt Col Jay Morse gave
jurors the first detailed account of the massacre.
He described how Sgt Bales summarily killed a young girl who was screaming
for him to stop beating her father.
Armed with a pistol, a rifle and wearing night-vision goggles, the Ohio
native fired indiscriminately, slaughtering 11 members of a single family.
One woman was left clutching bits of her husband's skull, Col Morse said.
"The accused placed his weapon on 'burst' and murdered everyone in the room,"
the prosecutor told jurors, reports the Associated Press news agency.
The BBC's Alastair Leithead says photos and video of injured and dead were
shown in court.
Sgt Bales returned to base for more ammunition, woke a fellow soldier and
told him he had just shot some people.
The other soldier did not believe him and went back to sleep, the court
heard. Sgt Bales left again to continue killing.
A young boy tried to stop Sgt Bales by hitting him with a shovel, but he
turned and beat the child.
The court heard he then shot an elderly woman who challenged him, before
crushing her skull by stamping on her head.
He poured kerosene from a lamp over the dead bodies and set them on
fire.
'No good reason'
Sgt Bales "felt inadequate" at the time of the massacre because of personal,
financial and professional problems, the prosecutor said.
Courtroom sketch of Mohammad Haji Naeem
testifying
He was unhappy in his marriage, his home had lost value and he felt he
deserved a promotion, according to the prosecutor.
A judge ruled on Tuesday that the Army can play extended clips of a recorded
phone call between Sgt Bales and his wife after his arrest.
The tapes include Sgt Bales and his wife, Kari, laughing about the charges
levelled against him and discussing a possible book deal for her.
A lawyer for Sgt Bales said the recorded clips had been taken out of context.
Sgt Bales' defence team hopes to win him parole by arguing that
post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury were factors in the
killings.
When asked in June by a military judge why he had carried out the murders,
Sgt Bales responded: "There's not a good reason in this world for why I did the
horrible things I did."
If he is sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, Sgt Bales could be
eligible for release in 10 years.
