An elite soldier being cross-examined in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial has denied he sought to "spread rubbish" and "smear the reputation" of the war veteran at a 2018 meeting with journalists.
The witness, who is being referred to in the Federal Court as Person 14 to preserve his anonymity, was called by Nine Entertainment as it attempts to establish a truth defence against Mr Roberts-Smith's case.
The Victoria Cross recipient claims he was defamed by false allegations of war crimes, bullying and domestic violence, published in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times in 2018.
Thursday's fourth and final day of cross-examination of Person 14 by Arthur Moses SC, for the veteran, grew tense, with multiple accusations from Mr Moses that the witness was "a liar".
Person 14 has claimed he saw Mr Roberts-Smith direct, through an interpreter, the execution of an unarmed Afghan man during a 2012 mission.
He's also given evidence of seeing another Afghan man with a prosthetic leg shot dead with a light machine gun by an unidentifiable Australian soldier during an earlier 2009 mission at a compound dubbed "Whiskey 108", claiming he later realised Mr Roberts-Smith was carrying the same type of "distinctive" weapon.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies all wrongdoing.
Person 14 was pressed about a meeting at a Canberra cafe in early 2018 with journalists Chris Masters and Nick McKenzie, who are both named as respondents in the case.
The court heard the witness earlier met with Mr Masters alone, but he said this was the first time he had met Mr McKenzie.
After yesterday telling the court he had "forgotten about that (second meeting)" and saying he had no memory of its contents, Person 14 today said this was the meeting where he detailed the Whiskey 108 and 2012 allegations to Mr Masters before Mr McKenzie arrived.
"You have been spreading rubbish about Mr Roberts-Smith to Mr Masters and Mr McKenzie, haven't you?" Mr Moses asked.
"No," Person 14 replied.
Person 14 denied he told Mr Masters that during the Whiskey 108 mission that it was a junior colleague, Person 4, who shot the man with the prosthetic leg, but admitted this was his initial "assumption" because that soldier carried the light machine gun that day.
"You are a liar, aren't you?" Mr Moses asked.
"No," he replied.
Multiple accusations from Mr Moses that the witness was "a liar" drew a warning from Nine's barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, that the proposition and "on occasion, the tone" was "improper".
Mr Moses showed the witness a document that he said was a "purported file note" of Mr Masters from a meeting with Person 14 on February 27, 2018.
The document, parts of which were read in court, included notes that "understood P4 had shot an old guy with a prosthetic leg".
It also mentioned elements of the 2012 mission.
"You were trying to smear the reputation of Mr Roberts-Smith, weren't you?" Mr Moses asked.
"No, I was telling the truth," the witness replied.
Person 14, at one point, suggested what Mr Masters had written and what he said were "two different things".
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, is expected to continue tomorrow with a new witness.
