Ben Roberts-Smith: Elite soldier says ‘malicious’ journalists cast him in ‘bloody nightmare’

Ben Roberts-Smith, who is suing Nine Newspapers for defamation, has described an allegation made against him is a ‘bloody nightmare’.

Ben Roberts-Smith has denied kicking an unarmed Afghan shepherd off a cliff saying “malicious” journalists have cast him into a “bloody nightmare”.

It came as the SAS veteran broke down reliving the moment he stormed a machine gun nest and was forced to kill a teenage insurgent – the event that secured the Victoria Cross exactly eleven years ago.

The SAS veteran squarely denied allegations by Nine newspapers he murdered six unarmed Persons Under Confinement (PUCs) on various missions in Afghanistan.

“I’ve never killed an unarmed prisoner,” he told the court on Friday.

Nine’s major allegation was a story about Mr Roberts-Smith kicking handcuffed farmer Ali Jan off a ledge in the village of Darwan in 2012.

The farmer, Nine claimed, hit the dry creek bed below with such force his teeth were knocked out of his head.

Nine alleged Mr Roberts-Smith then ordered the injured man to be killed.

Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith killed six unarmed or imprisoned Afghans.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team call the allegation Nine’s “centrepiece” and say it simply did not happen.

“I think it’s terrible every time I read that or hear it, I can’t believe it’s being written,” Mr Roberts-Smith said of the allegation.

“You feel like you’re in a bloody nightmare to be frank, quite frankly. Every time they write it I wonder; how am I in this position?”

Mr Robert-Smith’s lawyers say he may have helped another SAS operator kill a suspected Taliban “spotter” in a cornfield – but no details align with Nine’s story.

“There was no kick … I don’t recall seeing a cliff even … There was no PUC and no one was dragged across the creek bed,” Mr Roberts-Smith said.

Mr Roberts-Smith said the man shot and killed in the cornfield was engaged by another SAS operator and it “made perfect sense this guy was a spotter” from his behaviour.

The elite soldier spent his second day in evidence denying each and every allegation against him until his barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, called for the court to be closed so classified military files could be shown to Justice Anthony Besanko.

Australian troops watch a 500-pound bomb impact in Afghanistan.

The final allegation put to Mr Roberts-Smith, in open court, was a suggestion he executed an adolescent Afghan pulled from a Toyota HiLux in late 2012.

Nine initially said Mr Roberts-Smith murdered the boy in late October but later revised their court documents to claim it happened in November.

Mr Roberts-Smith said journalist Chris Masters knew it was false to accuse him of shooting the boy in October because he was in a totally different part of Afghanistan that day.

The decorated soldier’s actions that day were commended in the official military records and even appeared in Mr Masters‘ own book, the court heard.

“I thought … being journalists they’d know I was, on that date, in a different part of Afghanistan,” Mr Roberts-Smith said.

“I felt they were being outright malicious, they knew I wasn’t there but they still wanted to say it.”

Nine’s legal team arrives at court on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

HUNTING HEKMATTULLAH

Earlier Mr Roberts-Smith told the court his SAS troop was hunting a man called Hekmattullah who had used his AK-47 to kill three Australian troops inside their own base.

Hekmattullah was supposed to be an ally, Mr Roberts-Smith told the court, but his incomplete Afghan National Army records indicate he was planted there by the Taliban.

The SAS were pursuing Hekmattullah near the village of Darwan when Mr Roberts-Smith and his men pinned down a man trying to flee through rocks across the Helmand River.

Mr Roberts-Smith, on Friday, said he took off his armour and swam across the surging Helmand.

He told the court “it was my duty to accept the risk” in case the man in the rocks was the traitorous Hekmattullah.

“I saw (the insurgent) squatting there, he had his rifle and I engaged him from about 2m away. Killed him instantly,” he told the court.

Mr Roberts-Smith said he pulled and kicked the body from the rocky crevice, becoming bloodsoaked himself in the process and pulled magazines and explosive detonators from the nearly-headless insurgent’s shawl.

Nine newspapers previously alleged the man was unarmed and Mr Roberts-Smith had murdered him. They withdrew that allegation last month.

“I find this (allegation) particularly disgusting,” Mr Roberts-Smith said.

“You think people would be proud of someone to do something like that. To risk their own life to capture someone who killed three of our own people.”

The man in the rocks was not Hekmattullah who was later captured and released as part of a prisoner-swap deal between the US and the Taliban.

The alleged execution of Ali Jan, as described by Nine, took place later on this same mission.

Ben Roberts-Smith recounted the moment he swam across the river to face down a Taliban insurgent. Picture: Department of Defence

TARGET ON MY BACK

Mr Roberts-Smith had described the life and death “decision” he made at the historic battle of Tizak that saw him awarded the Victoria Cross.

But the award ultimately “put target on my back”, he said.

Taliban belt-fed machine guns were churning the earth around pinned down SAS soldiers on the 2010 mission, Mr Roberts-Smith told the court, and he realised he needed to make a choice.

“The decision was; could you go home and face their families if you didn’t do anything and they were to get injured or killed? Or do you go and potentially get injured or killed yourself?” Mr Roberts-Smith told the court.

“I always tried to serve my country with honour – the decision I made was I could die knowing I did the right thing by their families.”

He said his own family could live without him, knowing he still had his honour.

Mr Roberts-Smith had broken down in tears one day earlier, unable to describe the choice he faced under enemy fire.

Ben Roberts-Smith has revealed the moment he stormed machine gun nests in Afghanistan. Picture: Department of Defence

Mr Roberts-Smith said he moved toward the machine gun nests and went through a gap in the wall – he shot the first gunner who went down.

The second gunner – who he said looked about 15-years-old – was still firing at the pinned down Australians.

“You killed him?” his barrister Bruce McClintock asked him.

“Yes.”

“Was it within the rules of engagement?”

“Yes,” Mr Roberts-Smith replied.

“How did you feel about it then and how do you feel about it now?” Mr McClintock asked.

Mr Roberts-Smith shook his head and grimaced.

“I struggle,” he said.

Bruce McClintock arrives at court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The battle of Tizak would be monumental for Australia’s efforts in Afghanistan. It was the largest firefight since the Vietnam War and the court heard it snuffed out 76 Taliban.

“It put a dent in the insurgency that they wouldn’t recover from for many years,” Mr Roberts-Smith said.

Mr Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic efforts but he said the commendation was a monument to the bravery and gallantry of the entire troop.

The recognised soldier said the VC changed how he was treated by his own men.

“As soon as you become a tall poppy that gives people an opportunity to drag you down, belittle you,” he said.

He said they used the award to bring him down out of “pure spite”.

The court heard Nine newspapers will call 21 current and former SAS operators to testify against Mr Roberts-Smith.

Among them will be one soldier known as Person 7 who was at Tizak.

Mr Roberts-Smith denounced claims attributed to Person 7 in court documents that the Taliban machine guns were barely firing at all.

“(The gunners) hit us with everything they had – they knew we were coming,” he said.

“They knew either we were going to die or they were going to die. They didn’t surrender.”

Mr Roberts-Smith says the Victoria Cross put a target on his back. Picture: Ray Strange