Roberts-Smith boasted that killing young Afghan was ‘beautiful’, court told

Warning: This report contains graphic content.

War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith boasted to a fellow Special Air Service soldier that he had shot a young Afghan man in the head and it was “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”, the Federal Court has heard.

Person 16, a former SAS soldier who served alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan in 2012, gave evidence on Friday about the alleged conversation in the defamation case brought by his former comrade against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.

He said he did not tell anybody about what Mr Roberts-Smith told him because he was concerned it would be a “career-ending move” and his safety would be at risk.

Ben Roberts-Smith outside the Federal Court this month.Credit: Janie Barrett

Person 16, whose identity cannot be revealed for national security reasons, told the court he took part in a mission in November 2012 in Fasil, Afghanistan, during which he was among soldiers who encountered a group of Afghan men in a Toyota HiLux. Mr Roberts-Smith was not present at the time.

“Four male occupants, from memory, hopped out of that car. We hand gestured at them to lift up their robes to make sure they didn’t have any ... suicide vests, for lack of a better term,” Person 16 said.

He said he directed two of the men to a wall outside a compound and handcuffed them. One of them was middle-aged, he said, while the other was “a younger Afghan” he believed was in his “late teens”.

The young Afghan was “baby-faced,” a “bit taller than me ... a little bit chubby and [was], um, shaking with, in terror,” Person 16 said. “He appeared extremely nervous and trembling uncontrollably.”

Person 16 said another soldier searched the HiLux and a call went out on the radio that it contained components for making improvised explosive devices.

He said Mr Roberts-Smith’s patrol came over “a short time later ... and took the two males I had placed under constraint”. Person 16 assumed they were being taken away for questioning, he said.

Within about 15 to 20 minutes there was a call over the radio of “two EKIA”, Person 16 said, meaning “enemy killed in action”. He said the voice he heard was Mr Roberts-Smith’s.

Person 16 said he encountered Mr Roberts-Smith “within a day or two” of the mission and asked him: “What happened to that young bloke that was shaking like a leaf?”

He said Mr Roberts-Smith replied: “I shot that c--- in the head. [Person 15] told me not to kill anyone on the last job, so I pulled out my 9 mill [pistol], shot the c--- in the side of the head, blew his brains out. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Person 16 said the conversation left him “shocked” and he didn’t repeat what was said. There was a “code of silence within the regiment as to these things occurring”, he said, and he feared retribution if he spoke up.

“I also think that my personal safety, I would have been in danger, by making such allegations against someone so influential.”

Mr Roberts-Smith has insisted the alleged killing did not happen and denied saying those words to Person 16.

Bruce McClintock, SC, one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s barristers, dismissed the allegation in his opening address to the court last year.

“It’s like [actor] Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now. It’s Colonel Kilgore on ice. It’s insane. It’s the sort of thing that would be said by an ostentatious psychopath. He’s not that,” Mr McClintock said.

Arthur Moses, SC, for Mr Roberts-Smith, put it to Person 16 on Friday that he had “imagined the conversation”.

Person 16 fired back: “That is absolutely false. This conversation 100 per cent happened. This conversation shocked me to the core and that’s why I remember it.”

He said he had a “strong suspicion” before asking Mr Roberts-Smith about the young Afghan man that he had been killed, and his question related to a potential “war crime”.

Person 16 was shown a photo in court of a body that he said “looks like the young Afghan male I detained from the Toyota HiLux”. He was “highly confident” it was the same man, he said.

He agreed he first saw the photo in 2018 and was pressed repeatedly by Mr Moses about whether his memory might have been “influenced by you seeing that photo”.

“I see where you’re coming from but ... the more I think about it, the more I’m confident that this was the person,” Person 16 said. He agreed there was “always a slight possibility” it was someone else.

The court heard the photo showed an AK-47 style of weapon on the body of the young Afghan man. Person 16 said the man he handcuffed did not have that weapon.

Person 16 said he met investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, who co-wrote the articles at the centre of the case, in Queensland in late 2018. He said McKenzie said he had “heard about the HiLux job” and had heard Mr Roberts-Smith made a statement that one of the deaths on that day was a “beautiful thing”.

He said he didn’t agree or disagree with what McKenzie said he had heard.

Mr Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross, Australia’s highest military honour, in 2011 for his participation in a 2010 battle in Tizak, Afghanistan.

The barrister acting for the newspapers, Nicholas Owens, SC, asked Person 16 if he had any knowledge about Mr Roberts-Smith’s reputation before he joined the SAS at the start of 2011.

“From what I can recall, he had a reputation as being a no-nonsense individual, pretty straight, hard-hitting individual who didn’t suffer fools. He had a formidable reputation,” Person 16 said.

After he was posted to the SAS, Person 16 said, he became aware that there were “two camps” of thought about Mr Roberts-Smith. Those against him saw him as belligerent and a bully who would “trash and tarnish” other people’s reputations.

Under cross-examination by Mr Moses, Person 16 agreed he was not suggesting he was in the “against” camp.

“I actually admired some of his qualities,” Person 16 said. He said he had “never suggested that I’ve never been treated poorly by Mr Roberts-Smith”.

Earlier on Friday, Justice Anthony Besanko admitted into evidence the handwritten notes of investigative journalist Chris Masters, who co-authored the articles at the centre of the case, from a 2018 meeting with a serving SAS soldier dubbed Person 14. These notes are expected to be a key document in the proceedings.

Person 14 has told the court he witnessed three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan in 2009 around “a black object which was ... similar to a human” before one of the soldiers fired a “distinctive” machine gun, known as the F89 Para Minimi.

Ben Roberts-Smith at the Federal Court in Sydney on Friday.Credit: Peter Rae

He said he later discovered the object was an Afghan man with a prosthetic leg, who had been shot dead.

Person 14 told the court he could not identify any of the three soldiers, but he “saw who had the Minimi” after the mission was completed, and it was “Ben Roberts-Smith”. He later admitted he was not suggesting it was the same Minimi.

Mr Moses has told the court that Masters’ notes record that “RS [Roberts-Smith] had an M14” rifle during the alleged incident in 2009, while another soldier, Person 4, had a Minimi.

The notes said Person 14 “understood P4 had shot an old guy with a prosthetic leg”, Mr Moses said.

Mr Moses put it to Person 14 on Thursday that he initially told Masters that Person 4 had shot the Afghan man.

“Incorrect,” Person 14 said.

“You are a liar, aren’t you?” Mr Moses said.

“I’m not,” Person 14 said.

Person 14 said Minimis were typically carried by a junior soldier, and he initially believed Person 4 shot the Afghan man.

“That was based off me assuming that the Minimi carrier was Person 4,” he said. “That was my initial assumption on the ground ... but I later came to learn who was carrying the Minimi.”

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing for defamation over a series of news reports in 2018 he says portray him as a war criminal. Person 16 is the third current or former member of the SAS to give evidence in the Federal Court in Sydney for The Age, the Herald and The Canberra Times, as the news outlets seek to establish a defence of truth.

The Age and the Herald, owned by Nine, and The Canberra Times, now under separate ownership, allege Mr Roberts-Smith committed or was involved in six murders of Afghans under the control of Australian troops, when they cannot be killed under the rules of engagement.

Mr Roberts-Smith maintains any killings in Afghanistan were carried out lawfully in the heat of battle.

The trial continues.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.