Questions over who is paying witness bills in Roberts-Smith trial
Lawyers for Nine and Ben Roberts-Smith are demanding to know who is paying the massive legal bills being racked up by witnesses.
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Ben Roberts-Smith has accused Nine newspapers of paying the legal bills for his former “mistress” after its journalists alleged he attacked her following a VIP party.
But the newspapers have questions of their own - demanding the decorated soldier reveal if he is picking up the bill for those who will come to his defence when the delayed trial resumes.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied Nine’s allegations he had started an affair with a woman known only as Person 17 in the final year of his marriage.
The SAS veteran insists he had quietly separated from his wife, Emma Roberts, before he began dating Person 17, who was also married.
The “mistress”, as Nine has dubbed her, emerged as a crucial witness in the case after the newspapers claimed she drunkenly fell down the stairs at a party in Canberra attended by the Prime Minister and military top brass.
Nine claimed Mr Roberts-Smith had taken the woman back to their hotel and, embarrassed by her drunken antics, punched her in the face.
Mr Roberts-Smith totally denies that allegation and is suing Nine saying it falsely portrayed him as an abuser.
The soldier‘s lawyer, Paul Svilans, dropped a bombshell allegation of his own on Wednesday when he told the Federal Court he was seeking documents that may show Nine had paid money to Person 17.
Mr Svilans has formally requested bank statements revealing any payments made from Nine to her accounts – but did not reveal any further details.
It’s understood the subpoena from Mr Roberts-Smith came after Nine asked if the soldier was footing the legal bills for his own witnesses.
Many of the witnesses on both sides are soldiers who fought alongside Roberts-Smith and have previously given evidence at a Defence Department inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
It’s unclear, right now, what Mr Roberts-Smith and Nine hope to accomplish by revealing who is paying the enormous legal bills.
But it is known that billionaire Kerry Stokes, who employed Mr Roberts-Smith at Seven Network, is funding the soldier’s legal team.
Mr Roberts-Smith was allegedly recorded saying Mr Stokes was prepared to “run his bank down” supporting him in court.
It is also known that Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team will challenge Person 17’s mental stability and credibility when she gives evidence in the long running defamation trial.
Person 17‘s motivation will likely be probed after Mr Roberts-Smith told the court he had broken up with her following a tumultuous and bizarre relationship.
Mr Roberts-Smith told the court he believed Person 17 may have been faking a pregnancy when she said she was carrying his child.
Mr Roberts-Smith told the court he had sent a private investigator to follow her to a hospital for an abortion where she was seen walking out perfectly fine.
The hospital later said it had no medical records under Person 17‘s name.
Mr Roberts-Smith‘s legal team claim Person 17 never made any complaints until she spoke with Nine journalist Nick McKenzie.
“ (Mr McKenzie) was the source,” the soldier’s Barrister Bruce McClintock SC told the court earlier this year.
“He has prompted every complaint to the police about (Mr Roberts-Smith).”
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine over the abuse allegations but also over their claims he committed war crimes by killing six unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan.
The decorated veteran said he was defamed by the newspapers and he never killed any non-combatants during his celebrated tours.
The trial is expected to be delayed again in November and a formal request has been made to move the trial from Sydney to Adelaide to allow WA-based SAS witnesses to give evidence.
Originally published as Questions over who is paying witness bills in Roberts-Smith trial
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