A former US military contractor who shot and killed a defenceless and handcuffed member of the Taleban walked free today after a judge decided he had been provoked by the Afghan’s brutality.

The extraordinary case of Don Ayala, a former US Army Ranger who once served as personal bodyguard for President Karzai of Afghanistan and Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, ended in a Virginia courtroom when he was sentenced to probation for the killing of Abdul Salam in November last year.

US prosecutors, who originally charged Alaya with murder, had argued that he acted as judge, jury and executioner and was a cold-blooded killer after Salam had set fire to one of Alaya’s colleagues. But the judge decided that probation was warranted under the circumstances. Alaya was also fined $12,500.

Ayala had pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of Salam, an undercover member of the Taleban, whom he shot in the temple.

On November 4 last year in the southern Afghan village of Chehel Gazi, Ayala, who had retired from the US Army and was working as a military contractor, was part of a team aimed at helping US soldiers understand Afghan culture. With him was Paula Loyd, an anthropologist embedded with the unit.

Minutes before he was shot, Salam — posing as an unthreatening Afghan citizen — had been chatting with Loyd about the price of fuel. Suddenly, he threw a bucket of petrol on her and set her on fire.

Soldiers dragged Loyd, 36, to a sewage-filled drainage ditch to put out the flames. It took three men, including Ayala, to subdue and handcuff Salam. The Taleban later claimed responsibility for the attack.

When others told Ayala how badly Loyd was injured, he put a 9mm pistol to Salam’s head and pulled the trigger. Salam died instantly. Loyd’s death was far longer and more painful. With second and third-degree burns covering 60 per cent of her body, she clung to life for two months before finally dying on January 7 at Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio.

US prosecutors argued in court papers that Ayala, 46 acted as executioner, and had the experience and maturity to curb any desire for instant revenge. “Given his background and experience, Ayala not only must have known better than to execute Salam, he should have been able to control himself,” wrote prosecutor Michael Rich.

Yet Loyd’s family view him as a hero and have become some of his staunchest supporters. Loyd’s mother, Patricia Ward, noted in a letter to the judge that several of the woman’s friends had offered to serve Ayala’s time for him. “His reaction was perfectly normal in my mind,” wrote Mrs Ward, who said she probably would have done the same thing.

Ayala’s lawyers say his experience left him with latent combat stress that surfaced as he dealt with the emotions and adrenaline of the attack on Loyd and the struggle to subdue Salam. Ayala wrote in court papers: “I was overcome by the horror of what he had done to her, knowing that she was suffering and that she would never be the same, even if she lived.

“Immediately after the incident, I was allowed to go see Paula. I will never forget hearing Paula cry ‘I’m cold’ over and over as the medic tried to treat her wounds.”

Prosecutors released one detail to counter the notion that Ayala reacted in the heat of the moment. A witness to the shooting reported that before shooting Salam, Ayala gave an interpreter an instruction directed at Salam: “Tell him I think he’s the devil.”

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