Ben Roberts-Smith claims mistress faked pregnancy so he sent PI to abortion clinic

Soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has explained to a court why he had a private investigator follow his ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic as his defamation trial continues.

Ben Roberts-Smith believed his former girlfriend was “manipulating” him by faking a pregnancy so he sent a private investigator to tail her to an abortion clinic, a court has heard.

The elite soldier has denied striking the woman after a glitzy party in Canberra, telling the Federal Court that the allegation “ruined my life”.

Mr Roberts-Smith, on Tuesday afternoon, detailed how he had begun a relationship with a woman known as Person 17 some weeks after separating from his wife in late 2017.

Around Christmas, he said, Person 17’s husband called him and made “bizarre” comments.

“(Person 17’s husband) was aware we were having a relationship,” Mr Roberts-Smith said.

“He thought Person 17 would be better off with me... It was quite a bizarre phone call.”

Ben Roberts-Smith described a tumultuous relationship with a woman while separated from his wife. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

In January 2018, Mr Roberts-Smith said, he went with his wife and children to Singapore to try and discuss whether their marriage should continue.

The retired soldier told his wife about Person 17 and he resolved to break it off so he could rejoin his family.

Mr Roberts-Smith said he told Person 17 their relationship needed to end and, the following month, she sent him worrying messages while on a family holiday of her own in London.

Mr Roberts-Smith told the court he concluded Person 17 was about to self harm - she didn’t speak to him for more than 24 hours even after her panicked husband called.

Eventually Mr Roberts-Smith got Person 17 on the phone, he said.

“My response was that she needed to go home to let her husband know she was all right... She needed to go be with her kids,” he said.

That month, Person 17 told Mr Roberts-Smith she was pregnant and they decided to terminate, he told the court.

Mr Roberts-Smith said Person 17 flew to Brisbane so she could go to a hospital clinic and he could take care of her after the invasive procedure.

But, he said he didn’t believe she was pregnant and sent private investigator John McLeod to tail Person 17 to the hospital clinic.

Mr Roberts-Smith said Mr McLeod sent him a video of Person 17 leaving the hospital looking fine and carrying her own bag.

But she arrived at their hotel meeting point looking “frail” and with a bandage on her arm where a drip might have gone.

Ben Roberts-Smith says allegations of domestic violence ruined his life. Pic Lauren Black.

Mr Roberts-Smith said he showed her the video of her leaving hospital and her reaction was “enough to make me realise she wasn’t telling me the truth”.

“She started to cry and said ‘I didn’t have the procedure, I had the procedure up in Townsville’,” Mr Roberts-Smith told the court.

“I said ‘Townville doesn’t have a clinic’ she said ‘I had a miscarriage’ so now I had three stories as to what was going on.”

“(It) gave me great concern that I was being manipulated so I’d stay in the relationship.”

Ben Roberts-Smith faced questioning from his barrister Bruce McClintock SC (left) on Tuesday. (Photo by Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

The SAS veteran strongly denied striking Person 17 at a hotel room in Canberra following a glitzy dinner with the Prime Minister weeks later.

He told the court Person 17 had been so drunk she fell down the stairs in Parliament House and he took her home to ice her head.

Nine alleged Mr Roberts-Smith had struck her after she complained about the pain in her head from the staircase fall.

He denied that.

“My mother and father brought me up with a good set of values… l have no tolerance for anyone who would raise a hand against a woman. I find it a disgusting act of cowardice,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine for allegations he committed war crimes in Afghanistan and that he assaulted Person 17.

“That particular allegation (of assault,) I feel, coupled with being called a war criminal, ruined my life,” Mr Roberts-Smith said.

“For a long time I found it really difficult to leave the house after that.”

Mr Roberts-Smith told the court he was raised by his parents (pictured) to abhor domestic violence. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Mr Roberts-Smith said he spoke with Person 17 after she fell down the stairs about how he knew her husband would believe she’d been hit.

“I said to her ‘(your husband) is going to think I’ve struck you, you’re going to have to tell him you fell down the stairs and we were together’,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith said it was the final straw for their relationship but he saw Person 17 once more, in Brisbane.

He told the court she saw him board a flight to Canberra and he later realised Person 17 had booked a hire car to drive to his marital home.

The soldier said he only realised that when his wife texted him to say Person 17 had showed up at their door.

Later the court heard Mr Roberts-Smith feared there was a “whispering campaign” between journalists Chris Masters and Nick McKenzie and members of the SAS.

The Victoria Cross recipient said he feared his phones could have been tapped by the media or by the specialist soldiers who knew how to “interrogate” communications.

He said he again turned to Mr McLeod and asked him to find the home addresses of six individuals so he could alert the Department of Defence they were illegally speaking with journalists.

“I wanted to be able to provide that information to Defence so they could take the appropriate action and stop them talking to the media,” he told the court.

Mr Roberts-Smith denied intimidating any of the former SAS soldiers, or surveilling them.

He explicitly denied having Mr McLeod send threatening letters to one soldier in particular, as alleged by Nine.

The case returns on Wednesday.