An ex-soldier testifying for Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation case has denied colluding with the war veteran and three other witnesses to give false evidence intended to defeat an allegation of murder.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times newspapers over 2018 articles he claims contained false allegations of unlawful killings, bullying and domestic violence.
According to publisher Nine Entertainment’s court documents, during an October 2012 mission in Khaz Oruzgan, Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly directed, via an interpreter, a member of the Afghan Partner Force, Person 12, to shoot an Afghan man who was being questioned, or get one of his men to do so.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies all wrongdoing.
An ex-SAS soldier codenamed Person 35, who was called by Mr Roberts-Smith's legal team, has previously said Person 12 was removed from the team months earlier.
He had claimed this was over a separate incident in which Person 12 shot a dog and the bullet ricocheted, injuring an Australian soldier.
After being shown documents in closed court, Person 35 conceded he "must have remembered incorrectly" and agreed Person 12 was not the person involved in the dog incident.
Nine's barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, put to Person 35 on Friday that he was one of five witnesses, including Mr Roberts-Smith, whose outlines of evidence contain an account of Person 12 shooting the dog and subsequently being removed from the deployment.
"I wasn't aware of how many other people said that," the witness replied.
Person 35 agreed he had "monthly" conversations with those other witnesses — Person 32, Person 27, Person 39 — and they were friends but insisted he had not discussed allegations linked to the defamation case.
"You discussed with each of those people the lie that you were going to tell about Person 12 shooting a dog, correct?" Mr Owens said.
"That's incorrect Mr Owens," the witness replied.
"You thought that if several people told the same lie, it would be more believable," the barrister said.
"It's not a lie," Person 35 replied.
The witness denied that he spoke with Mr Roberts-Smith about a way to place Person 12 away from the scene of the alleged murder to "defeat" the accusation.
"You have colluded with each of those witnesses ... with the intention of giving false evidence to this court about Person 12 to advance Mr Roberts-Smith's interests," Mr Owens said.
"That's incorrect Mr Owens," Person 35 said.
Mr Roberts-Smith told the court, during his time in the witness box last year, that he served his country with honour and distinction and never broke the rules of engagement.
Earlier this year, a current SAS member called by Nine codenamed Person 14 gave evidence about the 2012 mission and Person 12's alleged involvement.
He told the court he was present in a room when an Afghan man was being questioned and a hidden weapons cache was discovered.
According to that witness, Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly told an interpreter, while pointing in the direction of Person 12, to "tell him to shoot him or I will".
Person 14 said the Afghan man was then shot dead, leaving him "perplexed".
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, continues.
