‘No mention of war crimes’: SAS leader denies soldiers accused Ben Roberts-Smith of executions

Junior soldiers said they tried to blow the whistle on Ben Roberts-Smith as early as 2013 but the SAS top brass didn’t investigate - now one of those leaders has broken his silence.

A senior leader of the SAS has refuted claims junior soldiers raised allegations of war crimes against Ben Roberts-Smith but were met with silence by the top brass.

Nine newspapers are being sued by Mr Roberts-Smith after they claimed in articles that he is a war criminal killer and known bully within the elite fighting force.

Mr Roberts-Smith, who denies the claims, called an SAS Major known as Person 100 to testify in support of his case on Monday.

Person 100 served as the SAS’ Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) which he described as a non-commanding role akin to a “senior adviser” for the regiment in 2013.

His job meant he would manage the careers and conflicts between members of the SAS and it was in that capacity that he was approached by a group of concerned sergeants, the court heard on Monday.

The court has previously heard that the SAS leaders were told Mr Roberts-Smith had been accused of killing outside the rules of engagement while in Afghanistan.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses SC, asked Person 100 if any such disclosure had been made in the meeting with the sergeants.

“Did any of the sergeants at that meeting raise concerns that Mr Roberts-Smith had broken the rules of engagement while serving in Afghanistan?” Mr Moses asked.

“There was no mention of that and no hint of it mentioned either,” Person 100 said.

An SAS leader has denied junior soldiers accused Ben Roberts-Smith of war crimes in 2013 meetings.

Instead, Person 100 told the court, an SAS officer known as Person 7 was concerned that Mr Roberts-Smith was not a “fit and proper person” to hold the Victoria Cross.

“He stated to me ‘I have concerns about Mr Roberts-Smith being a fit and proper person to be given the Victoria Cross, he had bullied (Person 7) and others and he had also claimed to have carried out actions that others believed they’d carried out’,” Person 100 said.

One sergeant said Mr Roberts-Smith had been accused of “bashing” and bullying a junior soldier who had forgotten to take machine gun oil on a mission causing the gun to jam years earlier.

Person 100 said he told the sergeants the SAS leadership didn’t have the capacity to rescind Mr Roberts-Smith’s VC, as Person 7 wanted, but allegations of bullying would be followed up.

The former RSM said he reported the meeting to his own bosses and was instructed to investigate the bullying allegations.

A few days later, the court heard, Person 100 met with four corporals and the concerns were the same; Mr Roberts-Smith had stolen credit for a kill and was a bully.

Two of those corporals, Persons 4 and 18, gave vastly different evidence when they took the stand for Nine earlier this year.

Person 4 told the court he saw Mr Roberts-Smith kick a farmer off a cliff in the village of Darwan in 2012 before the Afghan was executed by another soldier.

Mr Roberts-Smith and Mark Donaldson performing ceremonial duties after being awarded their Victoria Crosses, the top military honour. Picture: AAP

Person 18 said he watched Person 4 break down in tears recounting the alleged war crime and watched as the distraught soldier raised the killing again in the meeting with Person 100.

“(Person 100) said it was out of his hands, it was way above his head and he didn’t know what to do with it,” Person 18 told the court.

Mr Roberts-Smith vehemently denied kicking any Afghan off a cliff and Person 100 said no such incident was raised in the meeting with the corporals either.

Nine’s barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, said Person 100 was hesitant to investigate bullying allegations made against Mr Roberts-Smith because he feared upsetting the famed VC recipient.

Person 100 denied that and denied he’d been told about war crimes under cross-examination.

“It’s correct that Person 7 said to you ‘I’ve been told an allegation of a war crime’?” Mr Owens asked.

“Incorrect, sir,” Person 100 responded.

Mr Roberts-Smith is calling SAS witnesses in support of his lawsuit against Nine newspapers in the Federal Court.

Mr Owens also said Person 100 did not want to “invite scandal into the SAS” with investigations into Mr Roberts-Smith - the former RSM denied that too.

Person 100 said he was aware of allegations that someone had been kicked off a cliff but he did not know the details until April 2020.

“I didn’t know about any allegations of war crimes in 2013,” Person 100 said.

“I could not investigate anything because I had no knowledge of them, sir.”

Originally published as ‘No mention of war crimes’: SAS leader denies soldiers accused Ben Roberts-Smith of executions