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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Ben Doherty

Defence force documents disprove allegation Ben Roberts-Smith killed teenager in Afghanistan, defamation trial hears

Ben Roberts-Smith Smith Age Afghanistan Arthur Moses SC Nicholas Owens SC SAS
Ben Roberts-Smith leaves the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney, Monday, May 9, 2022.
Ben Roberts-Smith leaves the federal court of Australia in Sydney. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

The allegation Ben Roberts-Smith murdered a teenager with his pistol in Afghanistan and boasted about it days later as “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen” should be disregarded by the judge in his defamation trial, the former soldier’s lawyers have told the federal court.

Arthur Moses SC, acting for Roberts-Smith, said there were no witnesses to the alleged murder, and that “contemporaneous defence force documents” show the teenager was released unharmed.

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