Inside SAS raid at centre of Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial: photos
Never-before-seen photos of the moments after a bomb fell on a Taliban compound and a soldier allegedly pilfered a leg from a dead insurgent can now be revealed.
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For the first time, exclusive photos reveal the chaos, rubble and darkness that met the SAS as they stormed a shattered Taliban base during the 2009 mission that would become the backdrop for the most brutal allegations against Ben Roberts-Smith.
The never-before-seen images, captured in Afghanistan in 2009, illustrate crucial parts of the case; including the moment one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s detractors allegedly pillaged a prosthetic leg from a dead insurgent.
For years Mr Roberts-Smith has denied allegations he was involved in two war crime executions in the Taliban base known as Whiskey 108 on Easter Sunday, 2009.
One image offers a rare glimpse into the raid which a dozen soldiers now have been asked to relive in the defamation trial.
It depicts the shattered but still standing walls of the mud compound, with soldiers picking through the debris.
A 500-pound American war head had just been dropped on the insurgent hide-out which had been nestled in the “green belt”, the dense vegetation that runs alongside Afghan rivers.
Ten SAS soldiers have been called to give evidence about their precise movements in the dangerous battlefield and vigorously questioned on blank spots and contradictions in their decade-old memories.
That’s because one curious discovery at Whiskey 108 defined and divided so much of the trial - a subterranean tunnel.
Exactly what 10 SAS soldiers remember about the tunnel is crucial; five have said one thing, five have said the complete opposite.
Five soldiers, and Nine newspapers, claim two Afghans were found cowering in the concealed tunnel during the raid and detained.
One Afghan was elderly, the other was middle-aged and had a fake leg, the court has heard.
Nine claims the two prisoners were handed over to Mr Roberts-Smith’s patrol group before being executed - war crime murders.
Nine alleges Mr Roberts-Smith machine gunned the man with a prosthetic leg and ordered a rookie SAS soldier to shoot the elderly Afghan so he could be “blooded”.
Mr Roberts-Smith and his five SAS supporters have testified no one was hiding in the tunnel.
The Victoria Cross recipient’s case is that it follows that no executions happened at Whiskey 108.
The one-legged man, photographed dead on the ground, was shot in a legitimate engagement, Mr Roberts-Smith insists.
What all sides agree on is that the dead man’s fake leg was taken from Whiskey 108 strapped to the back of a patrol commander known as Person 6.
One image, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, shows the high ranking soldier posing with his men and the leg in front of armoured Australian vehicles.
The image of the leg, on Person 6’s back, also features two other soldiers who testified against Mr Roberts-Smith.
Person 14 and Person 24 both posed cheekily with the leg in the gloomy dark despite telling the court they watched Mr Roberts-Smith execute its owner just a short time earlier.
“(Mr Roberts-Smith) marched approximately 15 metres directly out from that entrance, dropped the man on the ground and immediately began with a machine gun burst into his back,” Person 24 said in his evidence.
“I recall saying to Person 14 at the time, ‘Did we just witness an execution?’.”
The location of Person 6’s squad, including Persons 14 and 24, has become crucially important in the case.
Mr Roberts-Smith and his team insist Person 6’s squad were guarding the far side of Whiskey 108.
They question what, if anything, Person 6’s squad could have seen through the high compound walls, dense vegetation and - as captured in the image - the encroaching darkness.
Person 14 told the court he had moved alongside Whiskey 108 into a clearing and had a clear line of sight to the shooting.
But, he said, he couldn’t tell which Australian soldier had opened fire with the machine gun because the light was low and the shooter had a painted face.
Nine’s journalists originally wrote that another soldier was carrying the machine gun after interviewing Person 14. The soldier told the court the journalists had made that error.
Person 24 told the court he had no qualms about what happened to the people killed at Whiskey 108 and he learned the alleged killings were unlawful after the mission.
“It was clear to me based on post Whisky 108 when we had discussions within our
patrol, of which Person 6 was the patrol commander, that (Mr Roberts-Smith) had broken the rules of conflict,” Person 24 said.
But the court has heard some consider the taking of the leg could also be considered a war crime itself.
“Pillaging”, as it’s known in international criminal courts, involves soldiers taking items from locals.
Person 6 has not been charged with pillaging or any other war crime and has not given evidence in the case.
But his subordinate, Person 24, told the court he cut ties with his commander for a different reason - he was leaking to the press.
Australia was shocked when Nine revealed many members of the SAS drank alcohol from the leg at wild parties at the Australian base.
Mr Roberts-Smith did not drink from the macabre trophy, the court has heard, though most others have.
Person 6 is the highest profile soldier to not give evidence in the case and has not been questioned about if and why he spoke to Nine - but Person 24 was convinced.
“I didn’t agree with the agenda (Person 6) was pushing, and he was pushing it hard,” Person 24 told the court.
“I still don’t agree with the fact BRS is here, under extreme duress, for killing bad dudes we went over there to kill.”
Millions on line in soldier’s mega trial
It cost two media empires an estimated $25m, months of evidence and 40 often top secret witnesses but with all the evidence in the defamation trial of Ben Roberts-Smith now tabled in open court, focus is on the next steps in the marathon lawsuit.
Mr Roberts-Smith launched legal action against Nine Newspapers in 2018 after they alleged he was a war criminal, in multiple news articles by senior investigative journalists including Nick McKenzie.
Mr Roberts-Smith, who denied every allegation, was working as an executive at Seven Network under the company’s billionaire owner and veterans advocate Kerry Stokes.
Mr Stokes would ultimately step in to fund Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal bid to clear his name, with the Victoria Cross recipient putting his top military medal up as collateral.
Nine mounted a truth defence, with their own witnesses claiming they saw or heard war crime killings involving senior soldiers.
Some former soldiers, directly implicated of assisting in the alleged murders, refused to testify on the grounds of self-incrimination.
The court adjourned on Friday with Justice Besanko preparing to hear submissions in July. A judgment could be a year away.
If Mr Roberts-Smith wins it’s expected he will push for the biggest damages payout in history. It’s unclear if the now intensely private veteran will attempt a return to public life.
If Nine wins, it will not only vindicate its journalists but also the SAS soldiers who have told the court they saw the lives of Diggers broken by a culture of murderous violence.
The damage to the legendary SAS and the Australian Defence Force will be extreme and the nation’s understanding of its place in the Afghanistan War indelibly marked.
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