Soldier arrested after testifying for Ben Roberts-Smith ‘shoved’ cop in midnight confrontation

An SAS witness for Ben Roberts-Smith “shoved” a police officer when they tried to get his phone, court documents reveal.

An SAS witness arrested after testifying for Ben Roberts-Smith was charged with “harming” an officer - now court documents reveal that he allegedly ”tensed up” and ”shoved” a cop when they tried to get his phone.

Court documents seen by The Daily Telegraph reveal Australian Federal Police attended The Marriott Hotel on Sydney‘s Pitt Street late on April 26 to execute a warrant against one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s former SAS squadmates.

The officers were waiting on the soldier‘s floor and approached him just after 11pm, according to the court documents.

Police, in the documents, allege the ex-special forces soldier appeared “intoxicated” and acted in a ”belligerent, unreasonable and aggressive manner”.

The court documents state the SAS veteran, known as Person X, tried to enter the lift to leave the hotel and refused to hand over his phone but police tried to stop him.

“When prevented from entering the lift, to prevent the destruction of evidence being the mobile phone ... the accused tensed up, clenched his fist and shoved police to the body,” police allege in the documents.

The documents do not reveal why police suspected Person X would destroy his phone.

Person X was arrested and charged with resisting police and harming an officer - the court documents allege the shove was the assault.

Person X spent the night in custody before finally managing to contact his lawyer on Wednesday morning.

He was released on bail and allowed to fly out of the country to his home in the United States with $10,000 surety.

His case will next be heard in court in June.

The defamation trial launched by Mr Roberts-Smith will continue in the Federal Court in the meantime.

Mr Roberts-Smith and his legal team including barrister Arthur Moses SC at the Federal Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

During the trial on Thursday, the court heard an SAS witness for Ben Roberts-Smith made a “mistake” when he accused an Afghan soldier of accidentally shooting an Australian soldier and a dog in evidence that could have delivered a “knockout blow” against Nine newspapers.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers over a series of allegations he committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

Nine insists the articles are true and are now cross examining SAS witnesses who are testifying for Mr Roberts-Smith in the defamation trial in the Federal Court.

One soldier, known as Person 35, gave evidence about a raid in 2009 that could be crucial for Mr Roberts-Smith’s case.

Person 35 told the court he cleared out a hidden tunnel in a Taliban base and found no men hiding inside during the raid.

That contradicts claims by Nine and other soldiers that two Afghan men were found in the tunnel before Mr Roberts-Smith killed one and watched on as the second was executed.

Mr Roberts-Smith has also denied Nine’s allegation he ordered an Afghan Partner Force soldier to execute another detainee at Khaz Uruzgan in late 2012.

Nine claims the soldier who pulled the trigger is an Afghan known as Person 12.

Person 35 told the court he dressed as the “pathetic” KKK at a drunken party at the SAS base in 2012. Picture: The Age

Mr Roberts-Smith’s witnesses, in legal documents, say that is incorrect because Person 12 was not even allowed to work with the SAS at that time.

Multiple SAS witnesses, including Person 35, claim Person 12 was kicked off the partnership after he shot a dog and the bullet ricocheted and wounded an Australian soldier.

But on Thursday Person 35 conceded he “remembered incorrectly” and agreed Coalition military documents showed Person 12 was not kicked off the force.

Person 35 denied he had deliberately lied to the court to protect Mr Roberts-Smith in his evidence about Person 12.

The soldier said his memory simply did not align with the official documents but accepted he was wrong about Person 12.

Mr Roberts-Smith, in his own evidence, maintained that Person 12 was not at Khaz Uruzgan so could not have pulled the trigger, as Nine claims.

Proving Person 12 was not at Khaz Uruzgan would have been a “knockout blow”, Nine’s barrister has previously told the court.

Nine has alleged Mr Roberts-Smith and his witnesses colluded to accuse Person 12 of the dog shooting in a separate legal challenge while Mr Roberts-Smith‘s lawyers say the newspapers are trying to prejudice the public and the court.

Mr Roberts-Smith at the Federal Court in Sydney as his defamation case between the SAS veteran and Nine continues. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Person 35, earlier on Thursday, was asked about one of the now infamous drunken parties at the SAS bar known as the Fat Ladies Arms inside the Australian base in Afghanistan.

The soldier told the court he had not ordered a costume online, like his squadmates, for a dress up party in 2012 so he fashioned himself a Ku Klux Klan costume instead.

“I knew one other person was coming in blackface and thought it would be funny if I came as a Klansman,” Person 35 told the court.

“It was just a parody … to make fun of the actual klan itself. They’re pretty pathetic (I was) making a joke of it.”

Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses SC, asked Person 35 if he was reprimanded for the costume which was photographed complete with burning cross.

Person 35 said he was not - and in fact he won best dressed at the party.

Nine’s barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, began cross examining Person 35 about a series of offensive posts he had liked on Instagram.

The court heard Person 35 liked a post that had an image of a man labelled “Fairfax”, the original owner of Nine’s newspapers’, with a lengthy caption beneath it.

“When some f***wit in a suit starts using his f***tard logic he learned getting his tonsils bruised by some lecturer’s spotty dick at their non-binary law school, remember one thing: that this c*** will be one of the first to be held down and drowned in a muddy puddle for his fancy jacket,” the caption reads.

Mr Owens suggested that was a reference to him but Person 35 disagreed, saying he only liked the posts because they were funny.

The barrister said the soldier had unliked the posts the morning before stepping into the witness box.

Another post, the court heard, seemed to mock a dead Afghan who Nine claims was kicked off a cliff by Mr Roberts-Smith.

The post, also liked by Person 35, suggested the killed Afghan was a Taliban and paedophile, the court heard.

Person 35 told the court he was not at the home where Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a man off a cliff, but he was on that mission.

“(Mr Roberts-Smith) didn’t kick anyone off a cliff, I know my friend Ben and he wouldn’t do that,” Person 35 said.

“I can speak to the man’s character and do I believe he did that? No I do not.”

Person 35’s legal bills are being paid by Seven network’s Kerry Stokes who is also funding Mr Roberts-Smith’s case.

Originally published as Soldier arrested after testifying for Ben Roberts-Smith ‘shoved’ cop in midnight confrontation