Ben Roberts-Smith ex-wife’s worst insult revealed in WhatsApp text
Ben Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife Emma has used one of the worst insults possible against her former husband, a WhatsApp text read out in court has revealed.
Ben Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife Emma called her former husband “a dumb lying c**t” in WhatsApp messages with her best friend, a court has heard.
Emma Roberts used the derogatory word for her former husband in an exchange with her school friend Danielle Scott, a hearing on Friday before the Federal court was told.
In the text, Ms Roberts said she was in possession of chapters of Mr Roberts-Smith’s then secret unpublished book.
“I have the first four chapters of the book, the one that doesn’t exist,” Ms Roberts texted Ms Scott.
“He’s a dumb lying c**t and when Jason tables this he’s going to look like a dumb c**t. He deserves it.”
Ms Roberts was referring to her lawyer, Jason Murakami, who represented her at the hearing on Friday.
The hearing was an application by Mr Roberts-Smith which, conversely, claimed Emma Roberts had herself lied in relation to accusations she hacked into the ex-soldier’s email account.
Justice Robert Bromwich heard on Friday that in another text exchange with Ms Scott, Emma Roberts has discussed the fact her ex-husband had sent a gift to a female solicitor.
The texts discuss the fact that Mr Roberts-Smith sent a pair of AirPods via his Virgin Velocity Rewards account to solicitor Monica Allen.
Ms Allen, who has denied being in a relationship with Mr Roberts-Smith, was photographed holding hands with the ex-soldier in Brisbane in August last year.
During the text exchange, Emma Roberts says “holy f**k … why get it sent to her” and “unnecessarily offensive and inappropriate language” were used, the court heard.
The two women exchange Ms Allen’s home address to which the AirPods were sent to in thanks for her “assisting him” in his defamation case and a federal inquiry into Australian soldiers’ actions in Afghanistan.
The WhatsApp texts were exchanged on June 30 last year and refer to an email Mr Roberts-Smith had sent to a courier providing Ms Allen’s address for the AirPods’ delivery.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister Arthur Moses SC claims the discussion is “central to (Ms Roberts’) denial that she did not give third-party access to … emails” in Mr Roberts-Smith’s private account.
Friday’s hearing was an application by Mr Moses for an examination of formal statements Ms Roberts has made regarding accusations she hacked into her ex-husband’s emails.
Mr Moses alleged in court Ms Roberts had lied in affidavits saying she hadn’t accessed emails of the ex-soldier’s personal account for his RS Group company.
Justice Bromwich responded, “You are saying it is false? That’s a pretty serious allegation.”
The judge said on two previous occasions when it appeared Ms Roberts had information she could only have got by accessing her ex-husband’s emails without permission, she had come up with explanations.
But he did say he was “troubled” by the June 30, 2020 texts.
Mr Murakami told the court he was confident he could supply a reasonable explanation for the texts within a week.
He said Ms Roberts had “completely complied” with the judge’s orders and “appropriately truthfully answered all allegations to the court”.
Both Ms Roberts and Ms Scott are due to testify against Mr Roberts-Smith at his defamation trial when it resumes in November.
In June, Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers sent Ms Roberts notices to produce information relevant to her accessing, viewing, extracting, copying or downloading data from Mr Roberts-Smith’s account.
At the time, Moses alleged in the Federal Court that Ms Roberts had accessed details from the inbox and outbox of one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s email accounts “without his consent”.
The account was the one the war veteran used for confidential legal correspondence about his current defamation trial in the Federal Court.
Mr Moses alleged material from the account was passed on to other parties involved in his defamation case.
He told the court in June a “concern arose” in April after Nine media lawyers served him a notice to produce emails or attachments “not stored by [him] anywhere else” but the email account.
“Ms Roberts, the evidence showed, had access to the applicant’s emails and that email account that he used for corresponding with his lawyers concerning the defamation proceedings and the Afghanistan inquiry … and correspondence with persons associated with his employer,” Mr Moses told the court.
Mr Moses claimed Ms Roberts may have information covered by legal privilege, and confidential military documents.
Those documents were part of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force’s inquiry into the actions of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing three newspapers owned by Nine media over articles published since 2018 that alleged he committed war crimes while deployed with the SAS in Afghanistan.
Nine has also alleged in an article Mr Roberts-Smith punched a woman he was having an affair with after a function with then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in March 2018.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied all allegations and is suing Nine over its claims he was a war criminal who broke the rules of military engagement and a domestic violence abuser.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s high-profile defamation trial, which began in June, is currently on hold during Sydney’s Covid-19 lockdown.
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, is due to recommence after a three-month adjournment.
Covid-19 border restrictions have delayed appearances by witnesses for and against Mr Roberts-Smith who live interstate.
These include Emma Roberts, Danielle Scott and private investigator John McLeod who live in Queensland and Person 17, the soldier’s former mistress.
Former and current SAS soldiers due to testify live in Western Australia which has a hard border policy in place currently with NSW.