Justice Anthony Besanko has released his full defamation judgement in the defamation case Ben Roberts-Smith lost against three newspapers and three journalists.
While a summary was released last Thursday, the full judgement was delayed to allow the Commonwealth to make redactions of information pertaining to national security concerns.
These are some of the most interesting points from the 720-page document.
Key events
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Farewell folks
By Greta Stonehouse
After Justice Anthony Besanko read out a summary of his findings last week, this afternoon we were given his entire judgement, not including redactions made by the Commonwealth.
The judge was satisfied, to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities, that allegations Mr Roberts-Smith was involved or complicit in four unlawful killings in Afghanistan were substantially true.
The disgraced war veteran was in Bali when this decision was delivered, and he is still yet to comment.
He has already stepped away from his role at Seven West Media as general manager of their Queensland division.
His barrister, Arthur Moses SC, said he would need to review the full judgement before deciding whether to lodge an appeal.
A joint investigation by the Office of the Special Investigator and Australian Federal Police probing reports of war crimes by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016 - is ongoing.
You can read more from the extensive findings below.
That's all from us today, and thanks for following along.
Full judgement now live
By Greta Stonehouse
Simmo has asked if we can link out to Justice Besanko's full judgement and reasonings.
Media were emailed a copy of this straight-up, but I think it has now also popped up on the Federal Court website.
If you're feeling brave, here it is, in all its 736 pages of glory.
Mr Roberts-Smith's witnesses dishonest, while he had 'motive to lie'
By Greta Stonehouse
Justice Anthony Besanko spent substantial time detailing the discovery of a secret tunnel during the mission codenamed Whiskey 108.
Mr Roberts-Smith called several former SAS soldiers and "close friends," who corroborated his account, that there was no tunnel in the Taliban compound.
This was in direct contradiction to a number of witnesses called by the media outlet's lawyers, who described in detail what this tunnel looked like, and the men who emerged from it.
Justice Besanko rejected these three witnesses' evidence, called by Mr Roberts-Smith.
And he doubled down on the war veteran's lack of credibility as a witness himself.
"The applicant has motives to lie, being a financial motive to support his claim for damages in these proceedings," Justice Besanko found.
"[He has] a motive to restore his reputation which he contends has been destroyed by
the publication of the articles and significantly, a motive to resist findings against him which
may affect whether further action is taken against him."
USBs buried in Mr Roberts-Smith's garden
By Greta Stonehouse
Ben Roberts-Smith's ex-wife gave evidence over two days in the Federal Court in February 2022, against her ex-husband on behalf of the media outlets he was suing.
As Emma Roberts marriage to Australia's most decorated living soldier drew to a close in 2019, she became suspicious of his activity.
Outside their home and buried in the garden underneath a rock and hose reel, Ms Roberts said she found a pink lunchbox.
Inside the box were several USB sticks, she said, containing hundreds of photographs she copied onto her computer, before replacing the lunchbox back in its hiding spot.
Mr Roberts-Smith denied burying this evidence.
However, Justice Anthony Besanko disagreed.
"I find that the USBs were buried in the garden of the matrimonial property," Justice Besanko wrote.
War veteran party to an agreement to 'murder Ali Jan'
By Greta Stonehouse
Back to one of the most high-profile war crime allegations proved to be substantially true.
After Mr Roberts-Smith kicked the unarmed, Afghan prisoner known as Ali Jan off the cliff, he fell down below to the dry riverbed, badly injured.
But he was still alive.
The Australian soldiers then walked down to the farmer who was struggling to get up, while still handcuffed, and Mr Roberts-Smith was seen speaking with Person 11.
The war veteran then ordered Person 11 to shoot him.
Justice Anthony Besanko has concluded that Mr Roberts-Smith murdered Ali Jan, and was "party to an agreement with Person 11 to murder Ali Jan".
An ICOM radio was later planted on the body to legitimise this murder in photographs.
Whiskey 108 key findings
By Greta Stonehouse
One key mission in this case unfolded at a Taliban compound dubbed Whiskey 108, in April 2009.
Nine alleged two unlawful killings occurred here, after two unarmed men emerged from a secret tunnel.
Mr Roberts-Smith was accused of machine-gunning one of those men with a prosthetic leg, outside the compound.
He denied there was ever any men found in a tunnel, and so did a number of former SAS soldiers he called to court.
Nine subpoenaed four ex-soldiers who all supported the conclusion that one or more Afghan males were taken from this tunnel.
Justice Anthony Besanko ultimately found their accounts credible.
"No plausible motive for lying was identified in the case of these witnesses and nor was there any evidence to suggest that they had colluded to present a false account," Justice Anthony Besanko found.
"These witnesses were independent, had no interest in the result and were aware of the significance of giving evidence.
"Furthermore, they were in a position to observe the events about which they gave evidence.
"The combined effect of their evidence is, without more, powerful."
Ben Roberts-Smith an 'unreliable witness'
By Greta Stonehouse
Justice Anthony Besanko ultimately found Ben Roberts-Smith was "not an honest and reliable witness," in many areas.
The former Father of the Year put forward to the court a swathe of evidence concerning his good character, medals and achievements over the years.
As we have canvassed earlier, the judge was satisfied on the balance of probabilities, that allegations Mr Roberts-Smith was involved or complicit in four unlawful killings in Afghanistan were substantially true.
Given the seriousness of those allegations, it's not surprising that Justice Besanko found Mr Roberts-Smith an unreliable witness, given the former SAS soldier's evidence directly contradicted what the judge found to be substantially true.
Allegations Mr Roberts-Smith sent letters threatening witnesses
By Greta Stonehouse
Retired officer and former friend of Ben Roberts-Smith, John McLeod, gave an explosive testimony during the defamation trial in February 2022.
He told the Federal Court that he had called the war veteran a "weak dog" after he tried to conceal allegedly writing anonymous threatening letters to SAS soldiers.
He said Mr Roberts-Smith had asked him to take responsibility for the letters, but instead urged the Victoria Cross recipient to admit what he had done.
"If you've done something stupid, put your hand up for it, because the cover-up is 10 times worse than the offence," he told the court he had told Mr Roberts-Smith.
In 2018, a witness known as Person 18, said he received two letters warning him over evidence he had given as part of the Brereton inquiry into the potential commission of war crimes by Australian soldiers.
"You and others have worked together to spread lies and rumours to the media and the inspector general's inquiry," the letters read.
"You have one chance to save yourself. You must approach the inquiry and admit that you have colluded with others to spread lies.
Justice Anthony Besanko found that Mr Roberts-Smith did arrange for the letters to be sent via Mr McLeod.
He said the sending of these letters was not the subject of any imputations, but said it was serious conduct.
"The sending of the letters may constitute a criminal offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice ... or using a postal or similar service to menace, harass or cause offence".
Ben Roberts-Smith discussed his missions 'in detail' with witnesses
By Greta Stonehouse
Nicholas Owens SC, on behalf of Nine Entertainment, submitted that Ben Roberts-Smith was colluding with his key witnesses.
The trial heard Ben Roberts-Smith travelled overseas to meet up with some of his former colleagues, including to New Zealand.
Mr Owens SC argued this was to get their story straight about the missions to Whiskey 108, Darwan, Chinartu and Fasil, where allegations or murder had been made.
"I am satisfied that the applicant and Persons 5, 11, 29 and 35 discussed their respective
recollections of the missions in which they were involved ... and that they discussed their recollections in detail," Justice Anthony Besanko wrote.
However, Justice Besanko said finding "collusion" occurred, in order to line up their stories ahead of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force [IGADF] Inquiry, was difficult to define.
Justice Besanko said the witnesses were clearly talking in detail about the relevant missions, and even if they weren't trying to "line-up their stories," there was a significant risk that would result.
Key SAS eye-witness to the death of Ali Jan 'honest'
By Greta Stonehouse
During a mission to Darwan in 2012, the news reports at the centre of this defamation action alleged Ben Roberts-Smith marched a handcuffed prisoner named Ali Jan to the edge of a cliff.
The newspaper articles said Jan, was an innocent Afghan farmer, who Mr Roberts-Smith "catapulted" off the edge and onto a dry riverbed below.
Mr Roberts-Smith then allegedly ordered his subordinate to shoot the man.
One of the only SAS witnesses to testify about this incident was given the code name Person 4 during the trial.
Justice Anthony Besanko has found that Person 4 "was an honest witness".
"I do not consider that any of his evidence was driven by ill-will or professional jealousy against the applicant."
There was no jury in this trial
By Greta Stonehouse
Defamation trials are based on the civil standard or proof, known as the balance of probabilities.
Juries are not always involved, and it means when the judge makes their ruling, they must provide detailed reasons for each of their decisions.
Justice Anthony Besanko heard more than 100 days of evidence, much of it in closed court, so some of his findings may never be revealed due to the sensitive nature of them.
It has been 10 months since the trial concluded. Given the lengthy reasonings Justice Besanko must provide for dismissing the case Ben Roberts-Smith brought against the journalists and newspapers, it is no wonder it has taken some time.
Mr Roberts-Smith has not been found criminally responsible for anything.
The Victoria Cross recipient was last seen in Bali, and has not spoken about the decision.
Ben Roberts-Smith complete judgement
By Greta Stonehouse
Good afternoon all,
Justice Anthony Besanko has just released his full findings after dismissing Ben Roberts-Smith's defamation suit against three newspapers and three journalists.
Last week, we were given a short summary and the actual result of the case.
However, the Commonwealth applied to make redactions on any sensitive national security information within the judgement.
Normally, we would be given a judge's full findings at the same time as the result, but this case is exceptional.
The full findings are 736 pages long, and we've got a team working on the most important and interesting conclusions Justice Besanko has drawn.
Stay tuned as we bring you updates throughout the day.
