Australia’s most decorated Afghanistan war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith told a former SAS soldier that when he “blew the brains out” of a young Afghan man it was “the most beautiful thing [he’d] ever seen”, a court has heard.
A SAS sergeant testifying for Fairfax Media in the Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial has admitted he told an investigative reporter the decorated veteran machine-gunned a disabled man during the war in Afghanistan, but insisted everything he said was true.
It was common knowledge that SAS soldiers sought the retraction of a “bulls–t” commendation awarded to war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith for acts of bravery in Afghanistan in 2012, a trial in a defamation case against Fairfax has heard.
Fairfax has accused senior counsel representing Ben Roberts-Smith of using cross-examination to try to identify the source of allegedly defamatory articles that accused the former SAS soldier of war crimes.
Eight rounds of ammunition were unloaded into the chest, neck and face of an Afghan man after decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith told a subordinate to, “Shoot him or I will”, a court has heard.
A judge has allowed Nine Network to claim that MP Andrew Laming is a ‘creep’ in its contextual truth defence to the Queensland politician’s defamation lawsuit over a news segment that accused him of taking a lewd photograph.
A serving SAS soldier has reiterated his testimony that Ben Roberts-Smith was involved in the killing of two Afghan detainees, telling a judge he was afraid that ‘dobbing in’ the decorated war veteran would lead to his demotion.
Australia’s most decorated Afghanistan war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, ordered the shooting of an Afghani man during an Easter Sunday patrol, a court has heard.
Former Attorney-General Christian Porter and senior barrister Sue Chrysanthou have met with partial success in an eleventh hour bid to halt an order for payment of a $430,000 bill in a court battle with a friend of Porter’s rape accuser.
Former Liberal power broker Marcus Bastiaan has accused Nine Entertainment of hiding behind “the cloak of journalistic professional privilege” in refusing to provide documentary evidence concerning the production of an alleged defamatory 60 Minutes report.