The moment that broke ‘manipulated’ SAS soldier at centre of BRS allegations

One soldier ties the two most brutal allegations against Ben Roberts-Smith together – but who is the traumatised and “manipulated” veteran who could decide the case?

The sight of a shepherd’s face smashing against a rock, his teeth scattering across a dry creek bed, could be the singular moment that splintered the SAS – now a judge will decide if it happened at all.

With all the evidence in Ben Roberts-Smith’s case now said and done, one veteran has emerged as the potential make or break witness who ties the entire saga together.

Like everyone else in the case, he is known by a nondescript pseudonym – Person 4.

Unlike everyone else in the case, Person 4 is the only other soldier, aside from Mr Roberts-Smith, at the centre of the two most significant public war crime allegations against the SAS.

The first and perhaps most infamous allegation involves the death of an unarmed man known as Ali Jan in the village of Darwan, Afghanistan, on the auspicious date of September 11, 2012.

Ali Jan – the farmer allegedly kicked off a cliff by Mr Roberts-Smith and executed by his men. He denies the claim but Person 4, who was on the mission, claims he saw Mr Jan's head hit a rock and it deeply affected him. Picture: 60 Minutes

“Ben Roberts-Smith walked up to him, with purpose, and kicked him in his chest,” Person 4 told the Federal Court on March 2, this year.

“The individual careered over the edge … I saw his face on a large rock where teeth had exploded.”

“I was numb in my legs.”

Person 4 told the court he and a third soldier, Person 11, dragged the handcuffed Afghan across a creek bed before Person 11 executed the badly injured farmer in front of Mr Roberts-Smith.

Mr Roberts-Smith and Person 11 deny that entirely.

Instead, they told the court, they jointly shot a Taliban spotter in a cornfield on the edge of the dry creek bed.

The SAS went to Darwan to hunt the traitor Hekmatullah who killed three Australian Diggers as they played cards in their base.

The SAS were in Darwan, the court heard, hunting for an Afghan National Army traitor named Hekmatullah who killed three Australian soldiers in cold blood – and he was suspected to have been harboured in the village.

The second allegation is that Person 4, in 2009, was ordered to execute a captive during a raid on a Taliban base known as Whiskey 108.

A soldier known as Person 41 told the court Mr Roberts-Smith grabbed the Afghan by the scruff of his shirt and walked him over to Person 4.

“ (Mr Roberts-Smith) then kicked him in the back of the legs behind the knees until he was kneeling down … (Mr Roberts-Smith) pointed to the Afghan and said to Person 4 ‘shoot him’,” Person 41 told the court.

Person 41 told the court he stepped out of the room for about 15 seconds and heard a muffled gunshot before returning to see Person 4 standing over the body.

Nine’s case contradicts that of Person 41, their own witness; the newspapers claim Mr Roberts-Smith watched on as another senior soldier ordered Person 4 to shoot the Afghan.

The moment SAS troops raided the Taliban compound known as Whiskey 108 in 2009. The raid is at the centre of Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial. Supplied

Either way, Mr Roberts-Smith denies any executions happened at Whiskey 108.

Person 4 refused to testify about the mission on the grounds of self-incrimination.

Nine published war crime accusations in mid-2018 which prompted Mr Roberts-Smith to launch the defamation lawsuit four years ago.

But it wasn’t until warring SAS soldiers began testifying against each other in court that the world learned how and why the allegations leaked from the secretive brotherhood to the journalists at Nine newspapers.

And Darwan was the defining moment.

Just months after the 2012 mission, the court heard, Person 4 broke down in tears telling his mate Person 18 about the alleged cliff kick and execution.

“This is another night of watching friends break down over what happened in Afghanistan – I had enough of it, I was sick of it,” Person 18 told the court.

A meeting was arranged in 2013 with senior soldiers.

Person 18 told the court Person 4 broke down in tears, again, telling the top brass about Darwan – but nothing eventuated.

The village of Darwan showing the cornfields, bottom, where an Afghan died – Nine claims in an execution, but which Mr Roberts-Smith insists was a legitimate engagement.

The commander who hosted the meeting told the court the cliff kick was never mentioned – it was mostly about soldiers railing against Mr Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross, he said.

That is exactly what Mr Roberts-Smith has always claimed – jealous soldiers preying on each others’ bitterness about a medal.

That medal was pinned to Mr Roberts-Smith’s chest after he risked his life storming Taliban machine guns in the battle of Tizak in late 2010.

The sound of machine gun rounds impacting the sandy soil around the Australian soldiers, or the rocket propelled grenades whizzing past their helicopters still brings Mr Roberts-Smith and other Tizak veterans to tears.

Person 4 was shoulder to shoulder with Mr Roberts-Smith at Tizak and claims he helped shoot dead the Taliban that had pinned down the Australians.

He told the court he heard he was in line for the VC – but the accolade instead went to Mr Roberts-Smith because Australia needed a “good news story” out of Afghanistan’s most violent year.

Mr Roberts-Smith in 2010, deployed with the SAS. He was later awarded the Victoria Cross for storming machine guns in the battle of Tizak that year.

“I was upset that something as outstanding as what both Ben and myself did was politicised,” Person 4 told the court.

Person 4 was ultimately awarded a Medal for Gallantry for Tizak, but not until 2013.

The soldier told the court he had long ruminated on the decision not to give him the VC, and agreed he had grown disappointed about the snub.

What remains in doubt is exactly when Person 4, embittered by his experience, spoke with one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s most vocal critics about Darwan.

What is known is that the critic, Person 7, told the court he spoke to Nine’s journalists about Darwan and every other negative utterance he had heard about Mr Roberts-Smith.

Some was petty and childish gossip, Person 7 conceded, other allegations including Darwan he didn’t personally witness.

His goal was to alert the public, he told the court, but many soldiers have been highly critical of those who went public.

“I believe I’ve been manipulated,” Person 4 told the court, looking back on his interactions with Mr Roberts-Smith’s critics.

“You were used by Person 7 to tell a story about Darwan so that he could bring Mr Roberts-Smith down?” Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister asked.

“I’ve suspected that,” Person 4 replied.

Despite his regrets and his mental health battles, the soldier told Justice Anthony Besanko, he is no liar.

“The regiment doesn’t deserve lies and cowardice and, Your Honour, I’m not a liar or a coward.”

ONE VETERAN’S COST OF SPEAKING OUT

The evidence of Person 4, the potential key witness in Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial, highlights the cost war crime allegations have had on the SAS and the men within it.

Person 4’s credibility, and the weight of his words, are yet to be determined by Justice Anthony Besanko, but the toll of making allegations, or being on the receiving end, was clear in the evidence of affected soldiers.

Person 4 is both accused of participating in war crimes and an accuser – and the men he alleges carried out the killings were once his close friends.

The soldier he claims fired the bullets that allegedly killed the detainee in Darwan is known as Person 11.

Person 4 was the best man at Person 11’s wedding – but the pair have not spoken since 2018 when the allegations aired.

“Do you know that he’s upset with you because he feels that you have, accused him of being a murder?” Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister asked Person 4.

“I would suggest so,” the soldier responded.

Person 11 denies all allegations and told the court he “pities” his former mate.

Both Person 4 and Person 11, as with many others, told the court they had struggled with their mental health.

SAS soldier Person 4 accused his best mate and Mr Roberts-Smith of an execution, their relationships and mental health have fallen apart as accusations emerged, the court has heard. File Photo: Department of Defence

Person 4 was discharged from the Australian Defence Force because of his ill mental health and told the court he suffers recalling the moments around alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

The accusations split the SAS regiment down the middle and the court heard they often check in on each others’ welfare, sometimes through the trial and evidence itself.

The internal conflicts of speaking out, whether true or otherwise, distilled toward the end of Person 4’s time in the stand.

Under questioning Person 4 defiantly told the court he was not a “liar or a coward” after alleging war crimes by his former mates.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses SC, asked if he was suggesting the Victoria Cross recipient was a liar or coward.

“Absolutely not, I’ve seen that individual perform heroic feats on the battlefield,” Person 4 responded.

“He is a good man, isn’t he, sir? Person 4? Mr Roberts-Smith is a good man, isn’t he?” Mr Moses continued.

“As far as I know, yes,” Person 4 said.