Witness in ABC war crimes defamation case apologises to Heston Russell
A former US soldier at the centre of the Heston Russell defamation case has issued an apology to the Australian war veteran.
NSW
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The former US soldier at the centre of the Heston Russell defamation case has issued an apology to the Australian war veteran after he won a defamation case against the ABC’s reporting of war crimes last week.
Russell sued the ABC and two of its reporters in the Federal Court for defaming him in a series of linked articles and broadcasts involving his 2012 service in Afghanistan.
His claim centred around aired allegations US forces refused to work with the 2nd Commando Regiment’s November Platoon after believing they had executed a hogtied Afghan prisoner.
The former major was commander of the platoon and sued the ABC and reporters Josh Robertson and Mark Willacy.
The source at the centre of the failed case, a former helicopter pilot from the US Marines, issued a message to Mr Russell over the weekend.
Ben Fordham broke news of the apology during his 2GB radio program on Monday morning.
“This has been a lesson learned about how my intentions may not have matched the intentions of the people I spoke with,” Dean said in his statement.
“I was naive about how everything would play out, and in retrospect should have been much more thoughtful about what was shared.”
The former helicopter pilot claimed he was on a mission in Afghanistan in 2012 and assumed Aussie soldiers had killed a prisoner in cold blood after he heard a pop sound over the radio.
He doubled down on his apology and said he was sorry that the lesson he learned came at Russell’s expense.
“I have no plans on ever speaking to any media or anyone else about what happened over there with your unit again, and I’m sorry my lesson learned came at your expense, I can only imagine the stress it put on you and the people you care about,” the statement said.
The federal court ruled in favour of the retired war veteran Heston Russell, he is now entitled to $390,000 in damages and legal costs will be determined on Tuesday.
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