‘They’re lying’: Ben Roberts-Smith’s witness under investigation for war crimess
A key witness for Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation trial has revealed he’s under investigation for war crimes.
An SAS soldier has told a court he is under investigation for war crimes, cooked up by “lying” Afghans, in the same village that Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked a detainee off a cliff.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers over a series of articles alleging he killed six unarmed Afghans while deployed with the SAS.
Nine is defending the articles as true and the Federal Court has been hearing evidence from one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s close friends, known as Person 35, this week.
Person 35, on Friday, was asked about the moment he received a text saying he needed to speak to the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force who was investigating allegations of war crimes.
The court heard that, at around that time, Person 35 had spoken to Mr Roberts-Smith about Nine’s articles which included allegations the Victoria Cross recipient had killed prisoners.
Nine alleged, in its 2018 articles, that Mr Roberts-Smith was involved in the killing of two prisoners found in a tunnel during a raid in 2009.
Person 35 told the court no prisoners were found in that tunnel - and he was the only SAS soldier who searched the crevice.
But the 2009 allegations were not what concerned Person 35 when he walked into the IGADF, the former soldier told the court.
Rather it was “false” allegations made against him about another mission in 2012, he said.
Nine’s articles also alleged Mr Roberts-Smith kicked an Afghan farmer off a cliff and had him executed in the village of Darwan in September 2012.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies those claims.
But two more Afghans were killed at Darwan that day, the court heard on Friday.
In mid-2018 villagers from Darwan told journalists two detained men were taken into an almond storage room and shot dead.
Person 35, in a tense exchange with Nine’s barrister, told the court he “was aware” the Office of the Special Investigator was now looking into those killings.
He confirmed he and another SAS soldier shot the men in the almond room - but insisted they did not break the law.
“That report is a lie,” Person 35 told the court.
“Those two insurgents we engaged in that compound were legally engaged... they were armed.”
The former SAS soldier told the court he did not need an immunity certificate to speak about the Darwan deaths - because the killings were lawful.
Person 35 told the court he had reached out to Mr Roberts-Smith because he didn’t trust military-funded lawyers to represent him at the IGADF.
“I was concerned this was a blatant lie gathered by an Afghan journalist, talking to Afghans, who are lying,” he told the court.
The court has heard Mr Roberts-Smith’s employer, media mogul Kerry Stokes, is funding Person 35’s legal bills in the defamation trial and through any war crime investigations.
“I will always seek professional legal representation,” person 35 said.
“I’ve had false allegations made against me, why wouldn‘t I seek that?”
Person 35, this week, told the court he wasn’t in the final compound of Darwan where Mr Roberts-Smith is accused of kicking the Afghan farmer.
“(Mr Roberts-Smith) didn’t kick anyone off a cliff, I know my friend Ben and he wouldn’t do that,” Person 35 told the court.
Person 35, the court heard, would draw a winged penis as a joke based on the SAS’ winged dagger emblem.
He denied drawing a winged penis kicking an Afghan off a cliff on a whiteboard in the SAS base.