Federal MP Andrew Hastie has told a court Ben Roberts-Smith made a cryptic comment about “dead c***s” on a mission where it’s alleged the elite soldier ordered a junior SAS trooper to execute an unarmed Afghan.
It comes after Mr Roberts-Smith’s lover was accused of a “deceitful charade” with an unconfirmed pregnancy, secret miscarriage and fake abortion.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers and journalists over claims he is a war criminal and domestic violence abuser.
He denies each allegation and Nine maintains their articles are true.
Before Mr Hastie joined parliament and became the Assistant Minister for Defence, he was an SAS officer who deployed alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan.
Mr Hastie and Mr Roberts-Smith were among the SAS soldiers sent to capture a target in an area of Afghanistan known as Syahchow in October 2012, the court has heard.
A junior soldier known as Person 66, Mr Hastie said, was normally a “happy-go-lucky, classic, country Aussie” but had appeared nervous during the Syahchow mission.
Person 66 and Mr Roberts-Smith were part of a group of SAS questioning more than a dozen captured Afghans, Mr Hastie told the court on Thursday.
Mr Hastie said he had walked off to do guard duty then heard a voice over the radio – “shots fired”.
“I didn‘t hear a shot… Mr Roberts-Smith walked past me…He looked me in the eye and said ‘just a couple more dead cunts’,” Mr Hastie said.
The soldier turned politician told the court he remembered more radio chatter about the SAS kill count going up.
Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith had “blooded” Person 66 by ordering him to execute an unarmed Afghan in a field at Syahchow.
They also claim, in court documents, Mr Robert-Smith’s SAS patrol planted an AK-47 machine gun on the body to make the killing appear legitimate.
Mr Hastie did not give evidence on the alleged execution and was instead asked about the debriefing after Syahchow.
He claimed Mr Roberts-Smith told senior officers that insurgents had been killed after “reaching for a grenade” and Mr Hastie was disappointed he “missed out” on the action.
Mr Hastie said he was, at that stage, still proud of Mr Roberts-Smith and described himself as “naive”.
Earlier on Thursday Mr Hastie told the court that the Victoria Cross recipient was a known bully and it was also known a soldier known as Person 1 was one of his victims.
One day the troops watched as Mr Roberts-Smith appeared on the Sunrise television program wearing his medals and uniform to speak about mental health charities, Mr Hastie told the court.
“Person 68 stopped for a second and said loudly so everyone could hear ‘RS gave Person 1 depression now he’s going to help him fight it’,” Mr Hastie said.
The troops all laughed, Mr Hastie said, but not at the expense of Person 1.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies all allegations he killed any Afghan outside the rules of engagement and denies he was a bully.
Earlier on Thursday his former lover, Person 17, told the court she fell pregnant to Mr Roberts-Smith but did not tell him she had miscarried.
Person 17, the court heard, told Mr Roberts-Smith she was booked in to a Brisbane abortion clinic and she visited the facility alone after the elite soldier told her he was busy with work.
Person 17 told the court she went txjmtzywo the clinic and used the bathroom inside the front door before she left the facility to meet Mr Roberts-Smith in a fancy hotel.
She was not aware Mr Roberts-Smith had her followed and filmed and, the court has heard, it confirmed his suspicions she was using the pregnancy to manipulate him.
“I still wanted to see him face to face, I was still going through something awful,” Person 17 told the court.
Person 17 has told the court and police that Mr Roberts-Smith assaulted her in a Canberra hotel after a ritzy party at Parliament House the following month, in late March 2018.
The court has heard Person 17 drunkenly fell down the Parliament House stairs and hit her head after revealing their affair to military dignitaries at the function.
Mr Roberts-Smith denied he hit Person 17 and text messages, in the wake of the incident, were read out in court on Thursday.
“I‘m really glad to hear your injuries are not worse… I was legitimately worried last night,” Mr Roberts-Smith wrote.
“ I’m not going to bullshit you (Person 17), your behaviour has given me cause to think and I’m a little in shock myself. Aside from putting yourself in a dangerous situation I found it really disrespectful and inappropriate, but I acknowledge your apology.”
Person 17 responded saying it was “her fault”.
“Please don’t punish me, I’m already hurting physically and mentally. I know it’s my fault I hate that I can’t change what happened,” she told Mr Roberts-Smith.
Mr McClintock suggested Person 17 had not shown those messages to the police investigating the assault because they were “incompatible” with her allegation of assault.
She denied that.
Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court he was separated from his then-wife, Emma Roberts, during the six month relationship but Person 17 has told the court they were both cheating on their spouses.
The trial continues.
