Category Archives: Ben Roberts-Smith

Key witness in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial acted ‘like a drunken fool’ towards police, says magistrate

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Federal police sought former soldier’s phone as part of investigation into war crimes potentially committed in Afghanistan

One of the key witnesses in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial has pleaded guilty to hindering a commonwealth official after he acted “like a drunken fool” in refusing to hand over his phone, wanted as part of a police war crimes investigation.

In April last year, Australian Federal Police sought the phone of the former soldier as part of a broader investigation into war crimes potentially committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s year-long defamation trial against three newspapers concludes

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Ex-soldier’s barrister tells court that reporters ‘jumped on rumours’, while newspapers’ counsel alleges Roberts-Smith ‘prepared to lie under oath’

Ben Roberts-Smith’s long-running defamation case has concluded in Sydney, with his barrister telling the court the decorated former soldier was the victim of a “war of words” from jealous comrades intent on tearing down his reputation.

After more than 100 days of evidence, 42 witnesses from around the world, hundreds of exhibits, and thousands of pages of transcripts, the year-long trial ended with closing submissions from legal teams Wednesday morning.

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Evidence of Afghan witnesses against Ben Roberts-Smith ‘hardly neutral’, lawyer tells court

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Lawyers for Ben Roberts-Smith urge court to disregard evidence of Afghan witnesses, saying the men were prejudiced against Australian soldiers

Lawyers for Ben Roberts-Smith have urged the court hearing a defamation trial to reject the testimony of three Afghan men who gave evidence against the Australian soldier in his defamation trial, saying they regarded foreign troops as “infidels” and gave “inconsistent and contradictory” evidence.

“To say they are credible is incredible,” Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses SC, told the federal court in closing submissions in the former soldier’s long-running defamation action.

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial hears Australian SAS soldiers ‘turned a blind eye’ to alleged war crimes

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In closing submissions, newspapers’ lawyer accuses several of Roberts-Smith’s witnesses of ‘outright dishonesty’

A powerful omertà within Australia’s SAS caused soldiers to “turn a blind eye to the most despicable and egregious breaches of the laws of war”, Ben Roberts-Smith’s long-running defamation trial has heard.

On the second day of closing submissions, Nicholas Owens SC, acting for the newspapers being sued by Roberts-Smith, said witnesses, including those called by the newspapers, were reluctant to report alleged war crimes because of a “pervasive culture” that forced new soldiers in particular to “toe the line” of the regiment’s culture.

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial hears conflicting evidence over Afghan deaths

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Troops who were present at Whiskey 108 compound split over whether two men shot dead were murdered or were insurgents killed lawfully

The tunnel at Whiskey 108 – and whether there were any people hiding in it – continues to dominate and divide the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial, with an SAS soldier accusing a comrade of cowardice over a raid on the compound in the Afghan village of Kakarak.

At issue is whether two men killed in the compound in April 2009, were pulled from the tunnel and murdered by Australian troops, or were insurgents lawfully killed in a firefight.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: witness expected to deny wrongdoing in killing of Afghan villager

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Person 11 to give evidence on allegation by newspapers that Roberts-Smith kicked handcuffed man off cliff before ordering him shot

An Australian soldier alleged by three newspapers to have participated with Ben Roberts-Smith in the “joint criminal enterprise” of murdering an Afghan villager named Ali Jan is set to appear in the federal court this week as a witness for Roberts-Smith in his defamation action against the newspapers.

Anonymised before the court as Person 11, the SAS’s soldier evidence will be critical to Roberts-Smith’s case over the events in the village of Darwan on 11 September 2012, when Roberts-Smith is alleged, by the newspapers in their defence, to have kicked a handcuffed Ali Jan off a cliff before ordering him shot.

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Witness agrees with Ben Roberts-Smith that no fighting-aged men were inside tunnel, court hears

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Absence of people in tunnel key to Roberts-Smith’s claim in defamation action that alleged war crimes couldn’t have taken place

The soldier who discovered the infamous tunnel in Whiskey 108 says there were no fighting-aged males hiding inside, backing Ben Roberts-Smith’s version of events of a fiercely contested mission in Afghanistan, the federal court has heard.

Roberts-Smith’s fourth soldier witness, a still-serving warrant officer anonymised as Person 29, gave evidence on Wednesday about a 2009 SAS raid on a compound known as Whiskey 108 in the village of Kakarak – an insurgent redoubt in Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan province.

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Who shot the dog? The canine killing that could play a crucial role in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial

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Identity of Afghan special forces member who killed stray dog could prove critical in newspapers’ defence

Amid allegations of war crimes, of murder, and of domestic violence, the seemingly inconsequential but bizarre death of a dog has dominated days of evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial.

It has done so because the identity of an Afghan special forces member who shot the stray dog – accidentally injuring an Australian soldier – during an SAS mission in July 2012 could prove critical in an allegation of murder made against Roberts-Smith in the newspapers’ defence.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: police feared witness would destroy phone evidence

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Former soldier appeared ‘intoxicated, acting in a belligerent manner’ when confronted with a search warrant, court documents say

Police feared one of Ben Roberts-Smith’s SAS witnesses in his defamation case was going to destroy evidence on his phone when they confronted him with a search warrant in a city hotel late on Tuesday night.

The former soldier, who hours earlier had finished giving evidence to the defamation trial, appeared “intoxicated, acting in a belligerent, unreasonable and aggressive manner”, court documents say.

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Seven paid legal fees for witness in Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial until arrangement was revealed in court

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Request for reimbursement from Kerry Stokes’s private company not made until after court told of network’s legal financing

The Seven Network was paying the legal fees of several SAS witnesses for Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation trial until one of them revealed the payments in the federal court, contradicting Seven’s claim last week that the former soldier’s evidence about the source of the payments was “not correct”.

When the former SAS soldier, known as Person 5, told the court last week that his solicitor and barrister are being paid for by Seven, the network said another arm of the empire owned by Seven West Media chair, Kerry Stokes, was footing the bill.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: former patrol commander denies ordering execution of elderly prisoner

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Ex-soldier known as Person 5 denies allegation put by lawyers acting for newspapers

Ben Roberts-Smith’s former patrol commander has denied in court accusations he ordered the execution of an elderly Afghan prisoner discovered hiding in a tunnel – in an alleged “blooding” of a junior soldier.

The retired soldier, anonymised before the court as Person 5, was directly challenged on Tuesday by lawyers for three newspapers being sued by Roberts-Smith: “You told [soldier] Person 4 to murder the old man.”

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: SAS colleague felt threatened to testify by newspapers, court hears

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Soldier refused to answer questions about one mission on grounds of self-incrimination on offence of ‘the most serious nature’

An SAS soldier who refused to answer questions about an alleged unlawful killing in Afghanistan has told the federal court he felt threatened to testify by the newspapers being sued by Ben Roberts-Smith.

The soldier, anonymised before the court as Person 56, refused to answer questions about a 2012 mission to Fasil, where, it has previously been alleged, he and Roberts-Smith were responsible for the unlawful killing of two Afghan men who had been taken prisoner from a vehicle.

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Witness in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial denies he is a ‘liar and a fantasist’

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Former SAS soldier defends himself against accusations from Arthur Moses SC of trying to justify his own failures as a soldier

A former SAS soldier who testified that Ben Roberts-Smith ordered him to stage a mock execution of a comrade during a training drill has defended himself in court against accusations he was a liar and fantasist who was trying to justify his own failures as a soldier.

Roberts-Smith’s lawyers accused the former soldier, known as Person 10, of fabricating evidence out of malice against Roberts-Smith, and feelings of inadequacy about his own performance on missions in Afghanistan.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: former soldier objects to answering questions about SAS missions

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Soldier anonymised as Person 66 objects to questions in federal court over missions under Roberts-Smith’s command on the grounds of self-incrimination

A former Australian soldier has objected to answering questions about how many SAS missions he went on under the command of Ben Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan in 2012, his lawyer telling the federal court his expected evidence could incriminate him in an alleged murder.

The soldier, anonymised before the court as Person 66, briefly began giving evidence late on Monday, subpoenaed to give evidence by the newspapers defending a defamation action brought by his former comrade and Victoria Cross recipient Roberts-Smith.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: ‘I believed something unlawful had happened’, Andrew Hastie says

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Assistant defence minister tells court he was troubled by ‘warrior culture’ in elite SAS regiment when he and Roberts-Smith were comrades in Afghanistan

Australia’s Special Air Service regiment was riven by a “culture war” with one faction obsessed by a “pagan warrior ethos” where “killing was a sacrament in itself”, the assistant defence minister, Andrew Hastie, has told Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial.

Hastie, a former SAS officer who resigned from the military when he was preselected to run for parliament, has been subpoenaed to give evidence by three newspapers defending a defamation action brought by his former comrade and Victoria Cross recipient Roberts-Smith.

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Assistant defence minister Andrew Hastie tells court Ben Roberts-Smith was seen as a bully in SAS

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Hastie, giving evidence in defamation trial, also claims Roberts-Smith’s reported version of Afghanistan mission was an ‘alternate universe’

The assistant defence minister, former SAS officer Andrew Hastie, has told a court there was a “widespread view” within the SAS that Ben Roberts-Smith was a bully towards his comrades.

The minister told the federal court on Thursday that Roberts-Smith’s reported version of a mission they both served on in Afghanistan was an “alternate universe” to what he observed.

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Woman threatened by stranger with photos of her and Ben Roberts-Smith having sex, court told

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Woman who had affair with former SAS soldier tells defamation trial she was ‘simultaneously in love and afraid of him’

A woman who had an affair with Ben Roberts-Smith has told a court she was confronted by a stranger who showed her photos of her having sex with Roberts-Smith in a hotel room, and threatened to make them public if she didn’t confess the affair to the veteran’s wife.

The woman, anonymised before the court as Person 17, gave evidence about the torrid end of her affair with Roberts-Smith to the federal court Wednesday morning, saying she was “scared” he would “seek payback”.

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‘I was afraid of what he might do’: woman tells court Ben Roberts-Smith punched her and threatened to burn down her house

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Woman who had affair with former SAS soldier tells defamation trial he refused to take her to hospital for treatment and took naked photos of her while she slept

Ben Roberts-Smith punched a woman he was having an affair with in the face, refused to take her to hospital when she pleaded for medical help, and then took pictures of her naked while she slept, the woman has told the federal court.

In an emotional two hours in the witness box, the woman, who has been anonymised before the court as Person 17, gave evidence about a tempestuous six-month relationship she had with the former SAS soldier, which she alleges was at times threatening and violent.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: woman who war veteran had affair with to give evidence

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Person 17, who is at the centre of an allegation of domestic violence, which Ben Roberts-Smith denies, will enter the witness box

The woman with whom Ben Roberts-Smith was having an affair - and who is at the centre of an allegation of domestic violence against him - is expected to give evidence in his defamation trial Tuesday afternoon.

The trial has spent weeks focused on Australian SAS missions in Afghanistan, with a series of former comrades giving evidence about actions on operation, but it will shift its focus to Australia as the woman, anonymised in court documents as Person 17, to enter the witness box.

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Ben Roberts-Smith a mentor to Zachary Rolfe, the NT police officer cleared of murder

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Relationship between two former soldiers detailed in statement by Rolfe’s mother, Debbie, in Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial

The former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, who is facing allegations of war crimes, was a “mentor” to Zachary Rolfe, the Northern Territory police officer who was cleared on Friday of murdering Kumanjayi Walker.

The relationship between the two men, who have been at the centre of separate trials that have dominated the media for more than a month, is detailed in a statement by Rolfe’s mother, Debbie, submitted to court as part of Roberts-Smith’s case.

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