Ben Roberts-Smith: War hero says domestic violence claim ‘fabricated’

Ben Roberts-Smith declared he’d ‘never hit a woman’ in emotionally-charged day of cross-examination.

Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Ben Roberts-Smith has declared he would “never hit a woman” in an emotionally charged day of cross-examination at his defamation hearing, rejecting allegations he punched a woman with whom he had been having an ­affair and told his ex-wife to lie about his extramarital relationship or she would “lose the ­children”.

On Friday, Nicholas Owens SC, for Nine newspapers, led Mr Roberts-Smith through questions designed to damage the war hero’s credibility by ­exposing ­allegedly disturbing ­details about the veteran’s relationships with his former partner — person 17 — and estranged ex-wife, Emma Roberts.

Mr Roberts-Smith said allegations that he took pictures of person 17’s “naked body” after he assaulted her were “disgusting” and rejected claims he punched the woman in the face at a Canberra hotel on March 28, 2018.

Mr Owens told the Federal Court the Victoria Cross recipient had become “confrontational and aggressive” after the couple returned to Canberra’s Hotel Realm following a dinner at Parliament House, which was ­attended by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“(You) grabbed her shoulders and shook her and said ‘f..k, what the f..k have you done? You’ve embarrassed me, you were all over men at dinner ... Everyone will know we are having an ­affair’,” Mr Owens said.

“That story is completely fabricated, I did not hit a woman,” Mr Roberts-Smith replied.

Mr Roberts-Smith told the court person 17 – a key witness for Nine – had not said a “single word” at the hotel because she “passed out” as soon as they ­arrived to their room.

Mr Roberts-Smith, 42, is suing The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times over reports published in 2018 that alleged he committed murder during deployments to Afghanistan. He is also suing over reports alleging he assaulted person 17 in the hotel room. Mr Roberts-Smith denies the allegations.

As part of its truth defence, the newspapers allege Mr Roberts-Smith punched person 17 “hard on the left side of her face”. On Friday, Mr Roberts-Smith told the court the woman had “concocted” the allegation. In fact, he said, she had injured herself when she fell down a flight of stairs while “very drunk”.

Mr Roberts-Smith also stood by his decision to hire a private investigator to follow person 17 to an abortion clinic because he was convinced she had lied about being pregnant in an effort to prolong their relationship.

“I just wanted to know what the truth was because I couldn’t get it from person 17,” he said, denying Mr Owens’ assertion that it was “abusive and controlling”.

The court also heard that in a message to person 17, Mr Roberts-Smith wrote: “don’t f..king abuse me again because it won’t end well!” He claimed it was not a threat, and that Nine’s legal team had “selectively picked” the message in a bid to damage him.

He also denied saying words to the effect of “I will burn your house down if you turn on me and it might not be you that gets hurt but people that you love.”

Earlier, the court heard Mr Roberts-Smith had told Ms Roberts that she would “lose the children” if she failed to publicly support his claim that the pair were separated when he started an affair with person 17 in late 2017.

Mr Roberts-Smith had “felt obliged to continue” the lie about the separation in the defamation case, Mr Owens said. “It’s an interesting spin, Mr Owens, but it’s completely wrong,” Mr Roberts-Smith replied.

The hearing continues.