Roberts-Smith: Tattoos linked me to war crime allegations

Ben Roberts-Smith says his tattoos and towering stature linked him to war crime allegations made against a soldier known only as ‘Leonidas’.

Ben Roberts-Smith says people linked him to war crime allegations because his Spartan tattoo, towering stature and Victoria Cross glory all pointed to him being the accused soldier known only as “Leonidas”.

The decorated SAS veteran used his final moments under his own legal team’s questioning to tell a court about the damage the “whispering campaign” wrought on his mental health, career and family.

Nine alleged in articles and court documents Mr Roberts-Smith killed six Afghans and punched his mistress in the face in a Canberra hotel.

The broadcaster is defending the articles as true. Mr Roberts-Smith strongly denies the claims.

The first article, in June 2018, did not name Mr Roberts-Smith but said a soldier called “Leonidas” kicked a detainee off a cliff and had him executed.

“They make specific comments about the size of the individual, his stature and his links with high levels of the military which would only come with the Victoria Cross,” Mr Roberts-Smith told the court on Wednesday.

The court heard Mr Roberts-Smith had multiple tattoos including one of a Spartan helmet on his ribs.

Leonidas was a Spartan warrior who, in the film 300, kicked a detainee off a precipice.

Ben Roberts-Smith said his tattoos helped link him to articles alleging a soldier called “Leonidas” kicked a detainee off a cliff and had him executed. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Mr Roberts-Smith denied burying USBs in his backyard. (Photo by Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

Mr Roberts-Smith said calls came quickly with people believing he was the alleged war criminal in Nine’s articles.

Mr Roberts-Smith was being questioned by his own barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, and told the court he always followed the rules of engagement when he killed people in battle.

“I saw things in Afghanistan and did things in Afghanistan - like having to engage adolescents - that I am not proud of,” he said.

“I live with that.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said he saw the Taliban and allies in the Afghan partner force abuse women and children. But he was powerless to intervene because of the rules of engagement.

“I accept that as a trauma I live with, only to come home to have stories written about me that are so demonstrably false,” he said.

“I have had moments in my life in the last three years when I didn‘t think it was worth it,” he said through tears.

When Mr Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for storming machine gun nests, he said, one patrol commander wrote a letter warning he’d become “a tall poppy” and he’d need to prepare for people trying to cut him down.

Years later those attacks took the form of a “whispering campaign”, he told the court, between his enemies in the Australian Defence Force and Nine’s journalists.

He said he asked his ex wife’s friend to buy him prepaid phones so he could talk to other former soldiers he still trusted about the missions that were at the centre of the war crime allegations.

“I simply did not trust the media were not trying to intercept my communications or gather derogatory information to use against me,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith said he felt betrayed and humiliated by a “whispering campaign” between SAS soldiers and the media to bring him down. Picture: Department of Defence

Mr Roberts-Smith said he and the trusted soldiers looked over surveillance images of missions that had been posted to him anonymously in the form of USBs.

Mr Roberts-Smith denied Nine’s allegation he had buried USBs containing important evidence in a container in his backyard.

He told the court they’d remained in his marital home and his wife had access to them after they’d separated and he moved out.

Mr Roberts-Smith said he lost three years of his life to rumours and he felt he couldn’t protect his kids when the articles emerged.

“Every day I think about what people are going to do and say to my children,” he told the court on Wednesday.

“What is the legacy of my family now because of those articles?”

“It crushes my soul because I gave so much to that job. And it’s all lies.”

He said he didn’t know what people thought of him since allegations he physically assaulted his girlfriend at a hotel in Canberra were published by Nine.

“Now I walk down the street,” he said, pausing to compose himself.

“People will look at me and the first thing I think of is ‘they think I’ve hit a woman’.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said he was “betrayed and humiliated” by the allegations.

“And I say humiliated because everything I’ve ever cared about was serving my country with distinction and honour - and my friends and my unit.”