Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has told a court it was “more than reasonable” for him to assume an unarmed Afghan man was a hostile insurgent because he saw another soldier shoot at the man first.
Ben Roberts-Smith used burner phones to call SAS colleagues after growing fearful that members of the media were listening into his phone calls after a series of articles were published in 2018 that accused him of war crimes and domestic violence, a court has heard.
Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has told a court that he hired a private investigator to find out whether a woman who has accused him of domestic violence had an abortion and to obtain the home addresses of six SAS soldiers set to give evidence in his defamation trial.
War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has said that while he was proud to have received the Victoria Cross for his actions at the 2010 battle of Tizak in Afghanistan, winning the award “put a target” on his back, with fellow soldiers seeking to undermine those they saw as tall poppies.
Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine in Queensland has hit another potential snag, with the Federal Court on Tuesday sending the company’s moves to pump 12.5 billion litres of water a year from the Suttor River back to square one.
Ben Roberts-Smith has raised “serious concerns” in his defamation case against Fairfax that the media company may have unlawfully published classified material he allegedly buried in his backyard, with the war veteran asking for an explanation of where it came from.
News publishers facing a defamation suit by Ben Roberts-Smith have called on the war veteran to explain alleged “deliberate concealment” of documents relevant to the case, as the Australian Federal Police reveals they are investigating claims he buried evidence.
A judge has allowed four Afghan witnesses who allegedly saw Ben Roberts-Smith kick a handcuffed Afghan citizen off a cliff to give evidence remotely when the Australian war veteran’s defamation case against three newspapers heads to trial in June.
The former wife of war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith will testify at an upcoming hearing that he lied about matters that are “centrally relevant” to his defamation case against three newspapers, a court has heard.
The chief of the Australian Defence Force has lost a bid to keep information obtained by a war crimes inquiry from three news publishers defending against a defamation suit by war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith.