Ben Roberts-Smith backed by father of soldier killed in Afghanistan

The dad of an Aussie soldier murdered in Afghanistan has thrown his support behind Ben Roberts-Smith, claiming the judgment which found him to be a war criminal lacked “balance and context”.

The father of an Australian soldier murdered in Afghanistan has spoken out in support of former SAS warrior Ben Roberts-Smith.

Hugh Poate’s son Robert, 23, was playing cards with two other Australians when they were gunned down by a rogue Afghan soldier called Hekmatullah in 2012.

“Ben Roberts-Smith was following orders to catch Hekmatullah who had murdered our son and two other Australian soldiers,” Mr Poate said.

Intelligence led them to the village of Darwan where Justice Anthony Besanko found Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a farmer called Ali Jan off a cliff and ordered him shot.

“These citizens in the village could well have been a citizen one day and pulling the trigger the next, that’s the way the Taliban operated,” Mr Poate said.

Hugh Poate’s son was killed in Afghanistan. Picture: Gary Ramage

Private Robert Poate was killed in an insider attack by Hekmatullah in 2012.

“This should have been reported to provide some balance and context.”

Justice Besanko found that Nine newspapers had substantially proved Mr Roberts-Smith had unlawfully killed four unarmed Afghan prisoners while serving in the SAS between 2009 and 2012.

His judgment also found Mr Roberts-Smith had bullied other soldiers but dismissed two other murder allegations and an allegation that he had struck his mistress.

Ben Roberts-Smith is seen leaving the Federal Court in Sydney in 2022. Picture: Gaye Gerard

In light of his findings, Justice Besanko dismissed Mr Roberts-Smith’s law suits against the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Canberra Times.

Justice Besanko also found in his full judgment of the case that Roberts-Smith and four key witnesses he called were not honest or reliable when it came to their evidence.

Lawyers for now-disgraced war-hero Mr Roberts-Smith are now scouring the full 736-page judgment, which was released in full on Monday after a four-day delay due to national security concerns, to see whether they can find grounds for an appeal.

Mr Poate said Hekmatullah had been caught and convicted of war crimes and has since been released.

“Ben Roberts-Smith has not been convicted of any war crimes – the manner in which he is being persecuted is a clear case of double standards.”

Mr Poate said the responsibility for any wrongdoing by the SAS in Afghanistan also lay with others within the ADF.

It comes as Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell is now calling for Afghan veterans to be stripped of their medals.

Three former Army majors are now preparing a brief for the International Criminal Court calling for the exoneration of many senior commanders to be investigated citing the double standard allowing them to keep a medal for a conflict they take no responsibility for.
“I feel betrayed because my son was murdered by an Afghan national and that seems to have been forgotten (in all this),” Mr Poate said.