Person X ‘drunken fool’ charge dismissed

A decorated special forces soldier swore at AFP officers who confronted him at a CBD hotel after giving evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial.

A decorated former SAS soldier “behaved extremely rudely, swore and was extremely discourteous” when he hindered an AFP officer trying to do his job after giving evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial, but the charge was dismissed.

The former soldier, who can be referred to only as Person X for national security reasons, testified over multiple days in the trial of Mr Roberts-Smith, who is suing Nine newspapers for portraying him as a war criminal.

Person X, who served in the military in Australia and overseas for almost 30 years, pleaded guilty on Monday to one charge of hindering a commonwealth officer but a more serious charge of causing harm to an officer was dismissed.

Downing Centre Local Court heard he was extremely stressed after being cross-examined in the Federal Court trial and had been drinking to let off steam.

“We all appreciate appearing as witness … is stressful at all times,” his lawyer, Rob Ranken, said.

The Australian Federal Police went his Sydney CBD hotel room to execute a search warrant following his evidence and the court heard he “behaved extremely rudely, swore and was extremely discourteous to AFP officers, who were clearly courteous in the extreme in their dealing with him”.

Mr Ranken told the court he was insistent on speaking to his lawyer before handing over a phone to AFP officers that belonged to his employer. He accidentally “came into contact with an officer” while reaching for the lift button, according to an agreed statement of facts.

A 30-second CCTV video from inside a lift showed him moving towards its door but being prevented from entering by officers.

The court issued a suppression order preventing publication of any information that would tend to identify him.

Magistrate Miranda Moody said given his work experience, she thought he would be “a little more sympathetic to officers who dealt with him on the day”.

She said he had “behaved like a drunken fool” after reading the facts and “made a jolly nuisance of himself” but found he was a man of good character who had held extremely prestigious positions in the military and dismissed the charge.