War crimes whistleblower to appeal jail sentence

David McBride will appeal after being sentenced to at least two years and three months behind bars for leaking classified defence information revealing alleged war crimes.

Justice David Mossop sentenced McBride to an aggregated five years and eight months in prison for three charges in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The former defence lawyer has a non-parole period of 27 months, meaning he’ll remain behind bars until at least August 2026.

McBride, 60, pleaded guilty to stealing classified material and leaking it to journalists. He faced life in prison.

His former wife, Sarah had the task of having to tell his two teenage daughters, one who was at school and the other overseas.

“We knew it was on the cards but I’m in absolute shock,” she said outside court.

The team wasn’t expecting such a severe prison sentence, his lawyer Mark Davis said.

An appeal could be launched as early as this week but McBride won’t be bailed while it’s heard.

“That’s the only prospect of hope we give today,” Mr Davis told a rally outside the court.

McBride’s supporters yelled out “shame” in the court room and raised their fists in solidarity while those closest to him cried when he was taken into custody and escorted out by officers.

There was a significant need to deter similar actions in the future but McBride’s mental deterioration from a prison sentence also needed to be considered, Justice Mossop told the court during his sentencing.

But his sentence was mitigated due to McBride’s guilty plea, good character and potential harm prison would have on his mental health.

McBride believed soldiers were being unduly investigated for the war crime of murder.

Instead, their actions didn’t reach that threshold.

Political interference was intended to show the public the defence force was taking the incidents seriously.

Justice Mossop didn’t accept McBride’s assertion he thought he wasn’t committing a criminal offence after the former military lawyer said he believed he would ultimately be vindicated by a court for acting in the public interest.

McBride’s argument that his suspicions the higher echelons of defence were engaged in criminal activity and he therefore was obliged to disclose the material and wouldn’t face criminal repercussions “didn’t reflect reality”, Justice Mossop said.

But he accepted poor mental health impacted by depression and PTSD which was self-medicated by alcohol and substance abuse “made a material, if only minor, contribution ... to offending”.

Speaking to his supporters outside court ahead of his sentencing, McBride said he had never been prouder to be an Australian.

He maintained he did his duty by exposing wrongdoing.

“I did not break my oath to the people of Australia and the soldiers that keep us safe,” he said.

McBride took 235 documents, with 207 of them classified as secret, by printing them at different defence facilities and taking them out in his backpack.

The classification indicates its disclosure could seriously damage the national interest or people, including the loss of life.

The leaked documents led to reports about Australian special forces soldiers committing alleged war crimes.

An inquiry later found credible information about 23 incidents of potential war crimes, which involved the killing of 39 Afghans between 2005 and 2016.

Human rights lawyers and advocates argued punishing whistleblowers would have a chilling effect on free speech and scare people away from exposing wrongdoing.