SYDNEY, N.S. — The lead prosecutor in a case involving a Canadian soldier charged with fatally shooting a fellow reservist in Afghanistan says the death occurred when the accused was playing a game with a loaded weapon.

Lt.-Cmdr. Robert Fetterley made the assertion in his opening statement today to a military panel hearing the court martial of Cpl. Matthew Wilcox of Glace Bay, N.S., who has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and negligently performing his military duty.

Fetterley says the prosecution will show Wilcox did not follow proper safety procedures when he carried a loaded 9-millimetre handgun into a tent he shared with Cpl. Kevin Megeney of Stellarton, N.S.

Megeney was killed by a single shot to the chest on March 6, 2007.

It was the first time details of the prosecution's case have emerged in the military courtroom, set up at the Victoria Park Garrison in Sydney.

Fetterley says the evidence will show Wilcox had loaded the weapon with a magazine, while the safety catch was not engaged, before the weapon went off "while playing a game in a tent" in Kandahar.