Ben Roberts-Smith to take to the witness stand today after testifying that he never killed prisoners during his deployments to Afghanistan
Ben Roberts-Smith is due to take the witness stand for a third day at his high-profile defamation lawsuit against media outlets over claims that he committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
Mr Roberts-Smith, 42, has brought the Federal Court action against the publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times over the articles from 2018.
The former SAS operator argues the articles depict him as a criminal who broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement.
He is also suing the respondents over claims he assaulted a woman in a Canberra hotel room.
Ben Roberts-Smith is due to take the witness stand for a third day at his high-profile defamation lawsuit against media outlets over claims that he committed war crimes
The former SAS operator argues the articles depict him as a criminal who broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement
Mr Roberts-Smith is expected on Tuesday to resume his evidence in chief at the Sydney trial after previously testifying that he never killed prisoners during his deployments to Afghanistan.
In his evidence he has denied claims that he kicked an Afghan prisoner off a cliff, killed an Afghan prisoner with a prosthetic leg, or murdered an adolescent Afghan.
He has also rejected claims of bullying and has testified that he never drank from the prosthetic leg of a killed insurgent at an SAS pub in Afghanistan called the ‘Fat Ladies Arms’.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers have argued that their client was the victim of a lying campaign by failed soldiers and ‘bitter people’ jealous of the applicant’s military success and Victoria Cross.
Mr Roberts-Smith is expected to resume his evidence in chief at the Sydney trial after previously testifying that he never killed prisoners during his deployments to Afghanistan
The trial has heard that he was ‘devastated’ by the outlets’ claims and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in income after his reputation was damaged by them.
He denies all the claims against him, while the publishers have put forward a truth defence.
The trial is set to hear testimonial evidence from 21 current and former SAS members and several Afghan villagers.
