A senior member of the Australian Defence Force has told a court that subordinate soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, threatened him in an army pub after a vicious battle against the Taliban.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers and journalists claiming they falsely defamed him by portraying him as a war criminal killer, domestic violence abuser and bully.
Nine maintains the allegations are true and, this week, called two SAS witnesses to back up their claims that Mr Roberts-Smith was known as a bully among the elite soldiers.
A Lieutenant Colonel, known only to the court as Person 69, told the Federal Court on Monday he overheard a conversation between two soldiers in the SAS base at Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, in 2006.
One of the soldiers, Person 1, had just returned from a mission with Mr Roberts-Smith and other SAS operators when their patrol was surrounded by Taliban on a mountain pass in the Chora Valley.
Person 1 was explaining that he had forgotten to bring machine gun oil to the battle and his gun had jammed, Person 69 told the court on Monday.
The court has previously heard it was a “basic failure” by Person 1 that put the entire SAS patrol at risk – and it was just one of multiple issues the SAS had with the junior soldier.
Person 1 allegedly said Mr Roberts-Smith had abused him for not shooting the Taliban and abused him again for not bringing the crucial machine gun oil, Person 69 said.
Person 1 claimed he had been “ostracised” by his fellow soldiers since the failure, the court heard.
“I’d never worked with the Australian SAS before and I was shocked they weren’t a collegiate team,” Person 69 told the court.
“I’d worked with other special forces…everyone makes mistakes and I couldn‘t believe a junior trooper would get abused for not (doing) the right thing rather than being supported.”
That night, Person 69 said, he went to the SAS makeshift pub known as the Fat Ladies Arms after being invited by two Warrant Officers.
Person 69 said he was sitting down in the pub when he overheard Mr Roberts-Smith, sitting behind him, chatting about the Chora Valley mission.
“I turned over my shoulder looking toward (Mr Roberts-Smith). He turned to me and said ‘what the f*** are you doing here? I should smash your face in’,” Person 69 said.
Person 69 was, at that point, a Captain in the regular army and Mr Roberts-Smith was a subordinate Lance Corporal in the SAS.
“I was in shock, I had never been spoken to in that way by a subordinate,” Person 69 told the court.
Person 69 told the court one of the Warrant Officers told Mr Roberts-Smith to “pull your f***ing head in” xjmtzywwhile the other served up a “menacing stare”.
As a result, Person 69 said, Mr Roberts-Smith said nothing else and returned to his conversation.
Person 69 said he didn’t take the matter any further because Mr Roberts-Smith had bit his tongue – but he said the alleged threat had a “profound impact” on him.
“I’ve been threatened three times by my own team in my army career,” he told the court.
“I can tell you exactly the year, who it was and what they said because it had a profound impact on me that my own team would threaten me.”
Person 1’s capability of a soldier has become a point of contention for Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers – they have said he was legitimately criticised because his inadequacies were dangerous to himself and others.
The soldier previously told the court Mr Roberts-Smith threatened to put a bullet in the back of his head because he was not up to scratch for the SAS.
The court has heard allegations Person 1 began screaming “I’m a friendly” and waving his machine gun at Mr Roberts-Smith in a night terror after the assault.
Person 1, in court, denied that.
The Chora Valley mission culminated in Sergeant Matt Locke exposing himself to Taliban gunfire to hold off the advancing extremists.
Both Sgt Locke and Mr Roberts-Smith were awarded Medals for Gallantry for fighting off the Taliban while surrounded on the mountain.
Person 1 told the court that, on the day the two men received their medals, Sgt Locke threatened to “throw me out the window” of a pub back in Australia.
“He said I was a coward and I was incompetent and he would do everything he could to remove me from the unit,” Person 1 said.
Sgt Locke lost his life fighting the Taliban one year later, in 2007, and is regarded as a hero of the ADF.
Person 1 described him in those terms but conceded he did not get along with Sgt Locke and claimed the fallen Sergeant had been part of the bullying.
The trial continues.
