A group of SAS sergeants told SAS senior command a decade ago that Ben Roberts-Smith was unfit to be awarded the Victoria Cross, alleging he claimed battlefield kills made by other soldiers, and bullied and assaulted his comrades, the federal court has heard.
A serving major in the SAS, anonymised before the court as Person 100 and giving evidence on behalf of Roberts-Smith, told the court that in 2013, when he was the SAS’s regimental sergeant major, he was approached by two separate groups of soldiers who raised concerns about Roberts-Smith not being “a fit and proper person” to hold Australia’s highest military honour.
Roberts-Smith is suing the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times for defamation over a series of reports he alleges are defamatory and portray him as committing war crimes, including murder.
The newspapers are pleading a defence of truth. Roberts-Smith denies any wrongdoing.
But Person 100 said no allegations of war crimes were raised, contradicting earlier testimony from soldiers who said they did report alleged war crimes, including murder, during the two meetings in 2013.
At the 2013 meeting, four sergeants told Person 100 Roberts-Smith did not deserve his Victoria Cross.
“I have concerns about Mr Roberts-Smith being a fit and proper person to be awarded the Victoria Cross,” one soldier, known as Person 7, told the meeting, according to Person 100’s testimony. “He has bullied me and others, and had claimed to have carried out actions that others believed they had carried out.”
One of the sergeants told the meeting Roberts-Smith’s reports of his action in battle were falsely inflated, the court was told.
“I shot an enemy combatant that Mr Roberts-Smith later claimed,” Person 43 told the meeting, according to Person 100’s testimony on Monday.
The court heard that two soldiers reported being physically assaulted, harassed, and bullied by Roberts-Smith. Person 100 said that one told him he had been “bashed” by Roberts-Smith after a failed mission, during which he did not properly operate his weapon, and was then “belittled” and humiliated for six years afterwards.
Person 100 told the court those allegations of bullying would be “followed up”. He said he raised the complaints with the SAS’s commanding officer.
Roberts-Smith was awarded the VC in 2011 for his actions during the 2010 battle of Tizak.
The court heard that one of the battlefield kills claimed by Roberts-Smith – an insurgent who was behind a boulder – occurred at the end of the Tizak battle. Another soldier also claimed to have killed that insurgent, the court heard.
Several soldiers present at those meetings in 2013 have told the court they raised allegations of war crimes committed by Roberts-Smith with Person 100 during the meetings.
Person 18 said the regimental sergeant major was told of allegations Roberts-Smith had kicked a handcuffed prisoner off a cliff during an SAS mission in Darwan, in southern Afghanistan, in 2012, before ordering the man shot.
“The RSM [regimental sergeant major] said, words to the effect of, ‘it was out of his hands, it was way over his head, he honestly didn’t know what to do with it’,” Person 18 told the court during his evidence in March.
Person 100, a witness called by Roberts-Smith to give evidence, told the court repeatedly on Monday that no soldiers raised any allegations of war crimes with him during either of the meetings.
“I didn’t know about war crimes allegations in 2013.”
Under cross-examination from Nicholas Owens, SC, acting for the newspapers, it was put to Person 100 that he was told of war crimes allegations but failed to act.
“You were told of allegations that in 2012 a ‘PUC’ – person under control – was kicked off a cliff in Darwan?”
“Incorrect sir,” Person 100 replied.
“You were told of war crimes in 2009 [committed] at Whiskey 108,” Owens put to Person 100.
“Completely incorrect sir.”
Owens: “You didn’t report those allegations because they involved Mr Roberts-Smith.”
Person 100: “Incorrect. Because no allegations were put to me.”
Person 100 denied he had sought to protect Roberts-Smith, and the reputation of the SAS regiment, by not properly investigating the allegations against Roberts-Smith.
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, continues.
