One of Ben Roberts-Smith’s chief critics spent hours leaking about the elite soldier’s personal life, marriage and “f*** ups” in Afghanistan to journalists but a shocking war crime allegation didn’t seem to warrant a mention, a court has heard.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers and journalists over a series of articles claiming he bullied soldiers and abused and killed unarmed Afghans.
The Victoria Cross recipient denies every allegation and claims a cadre of jealous soldiers were trying to bring him down by speaking with the media.
Among his most vocal detractors in the SAS is a Warrant Officer Class Two known as Person 7 who spent this week giving evidence in the Federal Court defamation hearing.
Person 7 appeared anonymously on 60 Minutes, in September 2019, where he told Nine journalist Nick McKenzie that Mr Roberts-Smith had been accused of kicking an unarmed Afghan down a cliff.
The Afghan, named as Ali Jan in Nine’s coverage, was allegedly executed by the SAS after his head was split open on a rock in the fall.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies those claims saying he shot and killed a Taliban spotter – but no handcuffed farmer.
Person 7 told the court, this week, a junior soldier witnessed the alleged war crime in the village of Darwan in 2012 and reported it before Person 7 took it higher.
The senior SAS soldier, on Friday, was taken through notes made during meetings he had with Nine journalist Chris Masters in 2015 to 2016.
According to the notes, Person 7 gave examples of Mr Roberts-Smith bullying junior soldiers and making errors while planning and carrying out missions in Afghanistan.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s wife and father were also mentioned in what Person 7 conceded was “petty, childish gossip”.
But Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses SC, suggested Person 7 did not mention the “cliff kick” in the village of Darwan during those meetings.
“You did not tell him about the allegation of Mr Roberts-Smith kicking a person off the cliff in Darwan when you had meetings in late 2015 and February 2016, did you?” Mr Moses asked.
“He raised that allegation and I said that I had heard about that allegation,” Person 7 said.
“I want to suggest you never said that to him,” Mr Moses repeated.
“I did tell that to Mr Masters,” Person 7 insisted.
It’s not clear why the most harrowing allegation against Mr Roberts-Smith was not recorded in the conversation because Person 7 claimed he had learned about the cliff kick in 2013.
Mr Moses also said that “on the reading of the notes” it did not appear that Person 7 had told Mr Masters about Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly assaulting an unarmed Afghan in 2012.
Mr Masters’ notes also do not record Person 7 alleging Mr Roberts-Smith conducted a “mock execution” against another SAS soldier, Mr Moses said.
Those are both allegations Person 7 has made in court.
Perxjmtzywson 7 said he knew that he was breaching his responsibilities to the ADF and potentially broke the law by sharing information with Mr McKenzie in the following years.
But Person 7 has remained steadfast in his explanation for speaking out – telling the court the Australian public needed to hear the allegations against the ADF’s most famous soldier.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team, later on Friday, asked another judge to order the ADF to hand over its own interview with an SAS witness.
Mr Moses told Justice Wendy Abraham that SAS soldier Person 24 had given inconsistent accounts of another war crime allegation against Mr Roberts-Smith.
Person 24 told the court, on Tuesday, he watched Mr Roberts-Smith execute a captured Afghan outside a Taliban compound in 2009.
“I think it was an exhibition execution – he wanted everyone to see he was going to kill someone out there,” Person 24 told the court.
Lawyers for the Commonwealth told Justice Abraham the interview should remain confidential because the ADF needed to be able to conduct private inquiries.
The judge had already refused to reveal such information before and asked her to do the same again.
The trial continues.
