Soldier, father, Aussie hero: Who is Ben Roberts-Smith?

A hero to many, hated by a few he once counted as brothers – who is Ben Roberts-Smith and how did he end up fighting to clear his name against allegations of war crimes?

To most, Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG was the most decorated soldier of his generation, Father of the Year, chair of the Australia Day Council and a righteous point in an otherwise murky and unpopular forever-war.

But Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation proceedings showed that for a small band of conflicted SAS soldiers, and a handful of journalists, Mr Roberts-Smith harboured murderous secrets from Afghanistan.

So who is the man behind the medals and the headlines?

Military background

Mr Roberts-Smith, 44, enrolled in the Australian Defence Force at 18 and served in East Timor with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, twice.

He joined the elite Special Air Service in 2003 and served in Iraq on security missions.

But it was during his six tours of Afghanistan that Mr Roberts-Smith went from an anonymous member of the secretive SAS to a national hero.

First, for his actions in 2006, he was awarded the Medal For Gallantry.

SAS Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith pictured leaving a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter during preparation of the Shah Wali Kot offensive in Afghanistan in 2010.

Ben Roberts-Smith leaves the Federal Court in Sydney in July 2022 as his defamation case wrapped up. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Mr Roberts-Smith was the scout and sniper of his five-man SAS patrol who had clambered up the Chora Pass to set up an observation post over the valley.

The SAS patrol fought off encroaching Taliban despite being outnumbered and perched on an exposed mountainside — Mr Roberts-Smith and his close friend Matt Locke both exposed themselves to enemy fire during the battle.

“Lance Corporal Roberts-Smith’s actions on the 2nd June 2006, whilst under heavy Anti Coalition Militia fire and in a precarious position, threatened by a numerically superior force, are testament to his courage, tenacity and sense of duty to his patrol,” his medal citation reads.

Fighting the Taliban

In 2010, Mr Roberts-Smith was among a group of SAS deployed to the now legendary Battle of Tizak.

Ben Roberts-Smith and other team members at Tarin Kowt in October 2012.

The SAS had spent the day fighting through the village, killing dozens of Taliban without sustaining a single loss.

No such open combat had been faced by Australian soldiers since Vietnam, the Federal Court would hear in 2021.

Mr Roberts-Smith, then Corporal, recounted the moment he was perhaps closest to death.

Machine gunners had pinned down his patrol in a dry creek bed, the Taliban bullets were striking so close the sandy soil was kicked up and splashing down on the Australian soldiers.

“The decision was, ‘Could you go home and face their families if you didn’t do anything … or do you go and potentially get injured or killed yourself’?” Mr Roberts-Smith told the court.

Mr Roberts-Smith decided he could die “knowing I did the right thing”.

“Demonstrating extreme devotion to duty and the most conspicuous gallantry, Corporal Roberts-Smith, with a total disregard for his own safety, stormed the enemy position killing the two remaining machine gunners,” his citation reads.

“His acts of selfless valour directly enabled his troop to go on and clear the village of Tizak of Taliban. This decisive engagement subsequently caused the remainder of the Taliban in Shah Wali Kot District to retreat from the area.”

Honours

The Victoria Cross medal, awarded to only a handful of the bravest soldiers in the history of the Commonwealth, propelled Mr Roberts-Smith into the national spotlight.

He became a public person, meeting with the Queen, courted by prime ministers and held up by a nation that felt inspired and indebted by his service.

Ben Roberts-Smith at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral.

Mr Roberts-Smith left the ADF in 2013 and his uniform was hung in the Australian War Memorial alongside his portrait.

The towering soldier collected many more accolades including Father of the Year in 2013 and a Commendation for Distinguished Service in the Australia Day honours 2014.

But for all the prestige that came with the Victoria Cross, Mr Roberts-Smith would later say in court, it had “painted a target on my back” as other soldiers began questioning his actions in Afghanistan.

‘Target on my back’

Other soldiers, for years, had been agitating within the SAS about Mr Roberts-Smith, the Federal Court would hear, accusing him of the worst — war crime murders.

Some claimed in court to have seen Mr Roberts-Smith kick a bound and defenceless villager off a cliff, another claims he watched the VC recipient order a subordinate to execute another captive.

Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith in action in Afghanistan.

The Federal Court heard it would take until 2018 for the SAS soldiers to break the code of silence and to make the allegations while talking to journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters at Fairfax — now Nine newspapers.

According to details heard in Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation proceedings, all told the newspapers accused Mr Roberts-Smith of six unlawful killings while deployed with the SAS.

They further accused him of domestic violence against a woman he had dated, and bullying other soldiers, the court heard.

Mr Roberts-Smith emphatically denied all their allegations and commenced defamation proceedings against the Nine Newspapers in respect of all of those allegations, claiming they are all false.

Personal life aired in public

The Federal Court hosted dramatic scenes as the soldier’s ex-wife, Emma, said her life had been thrown into chaos when a woman revealed she had an “affair” with Mr Roberts-Smith.

The woman, known as Person 17 to protect her identity, alleged in court Mr Roberts-Smith had struck her in the face after she drunkenly embarrassed herself at a dinner with military and political dignitaries, including the prime minister, in Canberra.

Emma Roberts-Smith, the ex wife of SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, gave evidence at the defamation proceedings in February 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Mr Roberts-Smith totally denied striking Person 17 who had also fallen down a staircase at the event and hit her head.

He said the allegations had taken a particular toll on him as he abhors domestic violence.

By the time the allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith emerged he had entered the corporate world and landed a job at Seven Network.

Seven network’s owner, Kerry Stokes, would bankroll Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal battle against Fairfax, now Nine newspapers, after they aired the allegations in front page stories.

His VC has been posted as collateral.

The marathon defamation lawsuit launched by Mr Roberts-Smith against the newspapers ran for more than 100 days before Justice Anthony Besanko.

The verdict was handed down on June 1 where Mr Roberts-Smith lost his case against three newspapers over a series of articles accusing him of being a war criminal, a murderer, a bully and an abuser.

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith claimed he was defamed 15 times in six articles published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times in 2018.