Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has told a court it was āmore than reasonableā for him to assume an unarmed Afghan man was a hostile insurgent because he saw another soldier shoot at the man first.
Ben Roberts-Smith used burner phones to call SAS colleagues after growing fearful that members of the media were listening into his phone calls after a series of articles were published in 2018 that accused him of war crimes and domestic violence, a court has heard.
Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has told a court that he hired a private investigator to find out whether a woman who has accused him of domestic violence had an abortion and to obtain the home addresses of six SAS soldiers set to give evidence in his defamation trial.
War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has said that while he was proud to have received the Victoria Cross for his actions at the 2010 battle of Tizak in Afghanistan, winning the award “put a target” on his back, with fellow soldiers seeking to undermine those they saw as tall poppies.
Ben Roberts-Smith took the stand on Thursday after publishers accused of defaming him detailed how the war veteran allegedly murdered six civilians and engaged in a cover up campaign, with the soldier saying he was “devastated” by the allegations.
News publisher Fairfax has been accused of attempts to intimidate Ben Roberts-Smithās lawyer in contempt of court by publishing inaccurate media reports that the solicitor is in a romantic relationship with the former soldier, after a judge said the reports had made him “uncomfortable”.Ā Ā
Decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith is owed record aggravated damages from Fairfax for publishing allegations of war crimes that it knew was false and decimating his reputation, a court has heard.
Former soldiers driven by ‘corrosive jealousy’ of Ben Roberts-Smith plotted to take down the Victoria Cross recipient and were aided by “credulous journalists”, a court has heard.
The ex-wife of accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith may have accessed his email account containing privileged communications with lawyers, a barrister for the former soldier told a judge on the eve of his defamation trial against Nine.
Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has brought legal action against his ex-wife, who is set to give evidence for Nine at the upcoming trial in his defamation case against the publisher.