Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie set to give evidence against Ben Roberts-Smith

Assistant Defence Minister and former SAS troop commander Andrew Hastie is about to offer proof towards Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation case towards 9 newspapers.

Mr Hastie, who served in Afghanistan and chaired the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence from 2017 to 2020, is listed as ‘possible’ to offer proof for 9 within the Federal Courtroom listening to.

The 38-year-old has been a supporter of the Inspector-Basic of the Australian Defence Power’s inquiry into warfare crimes allegedly dedicated by Australians in Afghanistan.

Mr Hastie has stated a poisonous ‘warrior’ tradition prevailed amongst particular forces troopers when he served with the SAS in 2013 on the tail finish of Australia’s longest warfare. 

The Brereton Report discovered proof of 39 murders of civilians and prisoners by, or on the behest of, members of the Australian particular forces.

The report, authored by NSW Supreme Courtroom decide Paul Brereton, acknowledged 25 Australian personnel have been concerned within the killings, most of which allegedly occurred in 2012 and 2013.

Mr Hastie is listed together with no less than 20 different serving and former SAS members to offer proof for 9.    

Former Opposition chief Brendan Nelson, a onetime director of the Australian Struggle Memorial and a longtime supporter of Mr Roberts-Smith, is among the many witnesses to be known as by his aspect. 

Dr Nelson was Minister for Defence within the fourth Howard Authorities.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s boss, the billionaire proprietor of Seven West Media, Kerry Stokes, will not be on his witness record however the former soldier’s predecessor as Seven’s Queensland normal supervisor, Neil Mooney, is anticipated to be known as.  

9 newspapers printed a collection of tales in 2018 accusing Mr Roberts-Smith of warfare crimes together with involvement within the murders of six unarmed Afghans.  

Below cross-examination by 9’s counsel Nicholas Owens SC on Thursday, Mr Roberts-Smith locked himself into definitions of what would represent warfare crimes.

All of the 9 homicide allegations relate to claims the previous SAS soldier killed, or ordered to be killed, insurgents already in custody.

Mr Roberts-Smith agreed that always he was deployed in Afghanistan it was not permissible to kill or assault a ‘individual underneath confinement’, or PUC.

He agreed it could not be permissible to order the assault or killing of a PUC – pronounced ‘puck’ – or to face by and permit that to be finished by others.

No order from any superior to kill or assault a PUC could possibly be legitimate and it could be a soldier’s obligation to disobey any such command, or to report it if the killing or assault occurred.

Any such conduct could be in breach of the Geneva Conventions and the Australian guidelines of engagement within the battle, no matter what function the PUC had performed in a confrontation.

Any SAS soldier who voluntarily killed a PUC whereas serving in Afghanistan could be committing homicide, Mr Roberts-Smith informed the courtroom.

To homicide a PUC or help in a homicide would additionally break the ethical and authorized guidelines of navy engagement, and shame each the military and the nation of Australia.  

The Victoria Cross recipient completed his evidence-in-chief on Wednesday afternoon, denying each critical allegation 9 had made about him in its newspapers.

He stated claims by different Particular Air Service troopers that he killed unarmed prisoners have been false and have been being made by jealous former comrades who didn’t like him. 

The 42-year-old fought again tears, as he has a number of occasions whereas giving proof, describing how the allegations had ‘crushed his soul’. 

After main Mr Roberts-Smith shopper by means of every of the allegations, barrister Bruce McClintock SC requested his shopper how he thought the general public seen him now.

‘That is the issue,’ Mr Roberts-Smith stated. ‘I do not know. I used to.’

Mr Roberts-Smith then referred to ‘deplorable’ claims he had punched his onetime mistress within the face, moderately than the allegations of warfare crimes.  

‘Now I stroll down the road, individuals will take a look at me,’ he stated. ‘The very first thing I consider is that they assume I hit a girl.’

Mr Roberts-Smith immediately addressed Justice Anthony Besanko about how the allegations first printed in mid 2018 had ruined his life.

‘As I stated, Your Honour, I really feel traumatised by it as a result of I used to be despatched to Afghanistan on the authorities’s behest to be a part of the Australian navy.’

‘I did all the things that I used to be presupposed to do and I adopted the principles. I did the appropriate factor.’ 

Mr Roberts-Smith has beforehand described taking pictures lifeless an rebel machine gunner who he later realised might have been not more than 15 years outdated.

‘I noticed issues in Afghanistan and did issues in Afghanistan, like having to have interaction adolescents, that I not happy with,’ he stated.

He had come residence from Afghanistan for the final time in 2012 solely to be publicly accused of warfare crimes six years later.  

‘I’ve had these moments in my life within the final three years that I simply did not assume it was price it.’ 

Mr Roberts-Smith stated he felt ‘betrayed and humiliated’ as a result of all the things he cared about had been taken from him, ‘within the house of a few articles’.

‘I served with honour and distinction and I at all times adopted the legal guidelines of armed battle and I by no means broke the [rules of engagement].’

‘It was and it’s one thing that simply crushes me, crushes my soul, as a result of I gave a lot to that job. And it is all lies.’

The primary articles had used the pseudonym Leonidas, however Mr Roberts-Smith was simply identifiable by descriptions of his towering peak, connections with navy brass and a Spartan helmet tattoo on his ribcage.

Leonidas was a Spartan warrior-king whose exploits featured within the movie 300. On the climax of the film an enemy soldier was kicked off a precipice, an allegation levelled towards Mr Roberts-Smith by 9.

Final week Mr Owens made a quick opening assertion on behalf of the newspapers.

He stated 9 would name 21 serving and former SAS troopers to offer proof towards their former comrade.

Not one of the six murders 9 alleged Mr Roberts-Smith dedicated have been the results of choices made within the warmth of battle or underneath ‘the fog of warfare’, he informed the courtroom.

Mr Owens stated every of the alleged murders concerned the killing of Afghanis in custody and have been breaches of the Geneva Conventions which set out the legal guidelines of conduct throughout warfare.

Most of these allegedly shot lifeless have been ‘nearly definitely insurgents’ and so they have been killed as a result of they have been regarded as Taliban. 

Mr Owens informed Justice Besanko he could be offered with a ‘stark alternative’. Both prisoners had been executed by Mr Roberts-Smith, or they’d died in battlefield encounters.

Mr Roberts-Smith had created ‘false narratives’ in regards to the deaths of the six Afghanis and his model of occasions couldn’t be reconciled with these of different troopers.

Written battlefield accounts which Mr Roberts-Smith’s attorneys say help his variations of killings contained deliberate lies to cowl up murders, based on 9.

Mr Owens would would name the 21 serving and former SAS troopers who would give proof conflicting with what Mr Roberts-Smith had informed inform the courtroom.

A few of these troopers would themselves admit to warfare crimes together with collaborating in murders and have been ‘honourable males who might stay silent now not’.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing 9-owned newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, plus The Canberra Instances. 

He served six operational excursions in Afghanistan with the elite Perth-based SAS and left the common military in 2013 with the rank of corporal. 

In addition to the Victoria Cross he was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his actions as a patrol scout and sniper close to the Chora Go in Might 2006.

Mr Roberts-Smith has been out and in of the witness field since final Tuesday describing his time in Afghanistan and insisting he had at all times fought with honour. 

Final Friday, he described the motion for which he was awarded his VC, on the eleventh anniversary of the battle.

Mr Roberts-Smith had been a part of a troop inside the Particular Operations Process Group that was dropped by helicopter at Tizak in Kandahar Province to seize or kill a senior Taliban commander on June 11, 2010.

Instantly upon insertion, his troop was subjected to machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade assault from fortified enemy positions above the village.

Below intense fireplace Mr Roberts-Smith acquired as shut as he might to the enemy machine weapons, killing an rebel he encountered. He intentionally drew enemy fireplace till his patrol commander might throw a grenade and silence one of many machine weapons.

With a complete disregard for his personal security Mr Roberts-Smith had taken out two extra machine gun positions, saving his fellow patrol members, then continued combating.

‘The second machine gunner was, at greatest, 15 years outdated,’ Mr Roberts-Smith stated.

Requested by Mr McClintock how he felt after killing the younger fighting-age rebel, Mr Roberts-Smith stated: ‘I struggled’.

The Battle of Tizak lasted 14 hours and claimed no less than 76 enemy lives. 

‘That sort of battle has not occurred for Australian troops since Vietnam,’ Mr Roberts-Smith informed the courtroom.

Mr Roberts-Smith had been happy with being awarded a VC for his actions that day however it had additionally come at a price. ‘It put a goal on my again,’  he informed informed the courtroom. 

Mr Roberts-Smith has additionally given proof about how he shot lifeless a person with a prosthetic leg throughout a mission at a compound codenamed Whiskey 108 at Kakarak in southern Afghanistan on April 12, 2009.

9 printed claims Mr Roberts-Smith carried the person exterior the compound, threw him on the bottom and blasted him 10 to fifteen occasions with a machine gun.

Mr Roberts-Smith stated he had shot the person, who was armed with a bolt-action rifle, with a two-round machine gun burst when he was already exterior the compound.

He stated if the person had been shot 10 to fifteen occasions his accidents would have been way more substantial than what was proven in pictures and he couldn’t probably have carried him when he was already wielding a machine gun.

Mr Roberts-Smith additionally denied one other declare {that a} soldier referred to as Particular person 5 had ordered a trooper referred to as Particular person 4 to execute an unarmed rebel by forcing him to kneel and taking pictures him at the back of the pinnacle.

9 alleges that killing was an act of ‘blooding’ and Mr Roberts-Smith had finished nothing to cease it. ‘I say it is utterly ridiculous,’ Mr Roberts-Smith stated.

Mr Roberts-Smith informed the courtroom no such taking pictures happened however a second rebel had been legitimately killed in the course of the motion.

He stated the person he did kill at Kakarak was by no means in his custody and had not appeared to be hampered by his prosthetic leg.

After the battle his colleague Particular person 6, one other soldier, stated he could be taking the limb as a trophy. The leg was was a consuming vessel and saved on the SAS bar in Tarin Kowt known as the Fats Woman’s Arms.

Mr Roberts-Smith has additionally denied claims of attempting to intervene with investigations into his conduct and of bullying former colleagues.

He stated on Wednesday he had not buried USB sticks containing footage of troopers in Afghanistan in his Queensland yard, as alleged by 9. 

And he has rejected a declare he punched a girl with whom he was having an affair within the face after a Parliament Home perform in March 2018. She is named Particular person 17 within the listening to. 

Mr Roberts-Smith alleges the newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters and David Wroe defamed him in what was then the Fairfax press in 2018.

Amongst his claims is that the publications wrongly made out that he ‘broke the ethical and authorized guidelines of navy engagement and is subsequently a legal.’

Mr Roberts-Smith says the newspapers falsely implied his alleged conduct had disgraced his nation and the military.

9 Leisure Co, the media large which now owns the Herald and Age, is defending their journalists’ claims on the premise the allegations are true. 

The newspapers will plead that Mr Roberts-Smith was complicit in and liable for the murders of the six Afghanis, and that these alleged actions constituted warfare crimes. 

Mr McClintock stated the impact of the newspaper tales had been to ‘smash and destroy’ Mr Roberts-Smith’s beforehand exalted repute. 

‘In 2018 when this materials was printed there couldn’t have been a former soldier higher identified or extra extremely revered than my shopper,’ Mr McClintock informed the courtroom. 

Mr Roberts-Smith could be searching for aggravated damages as a result of based on Mr McClintock, the writer knew a few of their claims to be false. 

The tales had been offered in a ‘sensational’ method, included ‘unjustifiable allegations of homicide’ and had not been withdrawn.

Mr McClintock stated one false allegation Mr Roberts-Smith murdered an Afghani, which was just lately withdrawn by 9, ought to result in aggravated damages being awarded.

‘I’ll put to Your Honour {that a} false allegation of homicide, with no foundation, justifies the most important award of aggravated damages ever on this nation.’ 

The motion on September 11, 2012 concerned Mr Roberts-Smith swimming a river at Darwan in Uruzgan Province and taking pictures lifeless a mid-level rebel armed with an AK-47-style assault rifle.

An SAS patrol had been searching an Afghani known as Hekmatullah who had shot lifeless three Australians at their Tarik Kowt base whereas they have been taking part in playing cards.

Mr Roberts-Smith had swum the Helmand River, killed a goal and rolled the person’s physique to the sting of the water the place he sat him up so he could possibly be photographed.

He defined he had finished that as a result of he had shot off the highest of the person’s head and he couldn’t simply be recognized.

‘Simply to place it bluntly, he did not have a face,’ Mr Roberts-Smith informed the courtroom. 

Mr Roberts-Smith stated it was ‘significantly disgusting 9 had maintained he murdered the person, who was not Hekmatullah, 

‘You’ll assume that folks could be happy with somebody who’s ready to try this, within the sense that you just threat your personal life to attempt to catch any individual who had simply killed three of our individuals,’ he informed the courtroom. 

Mr Roberts-Smith denied one other 9 declare that on the identical mission he had kicked a shepherd known as Ali Jan off a 10m cliff and ordered him to be shot. 

He stated there was no such an incident had taken place and he couldn’t perceive how ‘a whimsical story like that’ could possibly be believed, not to mention printed in a newspaper.

Mr McClintock additionally referred to the seize of three Afghan males and a teen who have been travelling in a Toyota Hilux at Fazel in November 2012. The youth was allegedly ‘shaking like a leaf’ in the course of the encounter.

9 claims Mr Roberts-Smith admitted murdering the boy in a dialog one or two days after the mission in a dialog with Particular person 16 who requested him, ‘What occurred to the younger bloke who was shaking like a leaf?’

Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly responded: ‘I shot the c*** within the head. [Person 15] informed me to not kill any c*** on that job so I pulled out my 9mm and shot him within the head. It was probably the most lovely factor I’ve ever seen.’

Mr McClintock stated that model of occasions was ‘completely ridiculous’.

‘It is like Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now as Colonel Kilgore on ice,’ he stated. ‘It is insane. It is the type of factor that may be stated by an ostentatious psychopath.’

Mr Roberts-Smith stated he had by no means used his pistol on any mission in Afghanistan. 

Defence paperwork would reveal the 4 males have been intercepted by a patrol Mr Roberts-Smith was not on, the boy had been launched and the three males have been taken to the Australian base at Tarin Kowt.

Mr Roberts-Smith stated 9 had initially claimed the Hilux interception happened in October when he was one other mission in  Shahir Usza within the northern a part of Uruzgan for which he gained a commendation. 

Mr McClintock has stated whereas Mr Roberts-Smith was as soon as a lot in demand as a public speaker, after the tales alleging warfare crimes towards him have been printed in 2018 even invites to Anzac Day ceremonies stopped.   

‘It is a case about braveness, devotion to obligation, self-sacrifice and maybe most essential of all, surpassing ability in soldiering,’ Mr McClintock informed Justice Besanko.

‘Alternatively, Your Honour, it is a case about dishonest journalism, corrosive jealousy, cowardice and lies. 

‘It is also about how a person with a deservedly excessive repute for braveness, ability and decency… had that repute destroyed by bitter individuals jealous of his braveness and success as a solider, significantly his Victoria Cross, aided by credulous journalists.’ 

Mr McClintock stated the previous troopers who made claims towards Mr Roberts-Smith had not spoken up till years after the occasions they now complained about.

He instructed a few of their claims have been made out of their very own failures as troopers.