Decorated war hero Ben Roberts-Smith couldn’t quite manage to overturn the findings that he probably did some sketchy stuff while on duty in Afghanistan. The guy, who snagged a Victoria Cross, was a no-show in court when his defamation appeal got kicked to the curb on Friday. Nine’s legal eagles were spotted getting all touchy-feely and throwing a shindig after the decision, telling the press outside, “the grin says it all.”
Roberts-Smith decided to challenge the findings, which got hashed out in the Federal Court over a 10-day stretch in February 2024. His legal team clammed up as they exited the building, probably not thrilled with how things went down. The high-profile vet took Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters to court for defamation over reports from 2018 that accused him of committing war crimes. But in 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko ruled that the claims about Roberts-Smith being involved in the deaths of four unarmed civilians were pretty much on the money.
After a year of twiddling his thumbs, the Full Court of the Federal Court shot down his appeal on Friday. The reasons behind the decision are set to hit the streets soon. This whole shebang clears the way for Roberts-Smith to cough up a boatload of cash, with the defamation bill expected to soar past $25 million. He also got hit with Nine’s legal tab for the failed appeal and other court squabbles. Roberts-Smith could opt to drag this seven-year legal rollercoaster to the High Court as a Hail Mary to salvage his rep.
The original ruling pinned Roberts-Smith as an accomplice in the killings of four unarmed men in Afghanistan. The dude burst onto the scene in 2011 when he snagged Australia’s top military award, the Victoria Cross, for taking out enemy machine-gun nests to save his squad in Afghanistan. Fast forward to being named Australian Father of the Year, and then boom—McKenzie’s bombshell reports in 2018 accused the former SAS soldier of being mixed up in war crimes. The reports alleged that Roberts-Smith gunned down a man with a fake leg and turned it into a drinking cup for his buddies.
On that same day in 2009, Roberts-Smith supposedly gave the green light for an old prisoner to get axed to toughen up a rookie during a raid at Whiskey 108. Another accusation claimed he shoved a cuffed prisoner off a cliff in Darwan before dragging him to a creek and ordering his execution on September 11, 2012. Nine’s story also said Roberts-Smith ordered the execution of another detainee after finding a weapons stash in Cinartu. Justice Besanko’s findings, which got upheld on Friday, were based on the likelihood of things happening. Roberts-Smith hasn’t been hit with any charges related to these allegations.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Roberts-Smith is in quite the pickle with these war crime accusations hanging over his head. The dude’s got a long road ahead if he wants to clear his name and put this mess behind him. But hey, who am I to judge?