Ben Roberts-Smith’s friend and former elite soldier is under investigation for the alleged war crime of murder in Afghanistan that he denies, he has told a court.
Person 35 is appearing on behalf of Mr Roberts-Smith who is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times for defamation.
The Victoria Cross recipient denies all reported claims he committed war crimes in Afghanistan including murder, and acts of bullying and domestic violence, while the mastheads are defending them as true.
The former SAS soldier codenamed Person 35 has confirmed Network Seven boss Kerry Stokes was paying his legal fees, as he did not feel comfortable using free counsel from the Australian Defence Force.
On Friday the newspapers’ barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, asked Person 35 if he sought privately funded legal representation due to concerns of murder allegations directed at him.
“That’s incorrect,” he replied.
Person 35 says that on a 2012 mission in Darwan he lawfully engaged an insurgent, while a news article states the man was detained and unarmed when he was executed.
Person 35 said the news article airing the allegation was based on an Afghan journalist’s lies.
The witness was also questioned further on key evidence he gave about an Afghan partner force soldier that he admitted was a mistake on Thursday.
Originally he testified that an Afghan soldier dubbed Person 12 was removed from his troop in July 2012, after a bullet he shot at a dog ricocheted and hit an Australian soldier.
Mr Roberts-Smith is accused of ordering Person 12 through an interpreter to shoot an Afghan prisoner on an October mission to Khaz Oruzgan.
If Person 12 was removed from all deployments in July, he could not have been on the mission where the alleged murder occurred.
On Thursday Mr Owens showed Person 35 a number of classified documents that outlined Person 12 in fact took control of Australia’s army partner force in September 2012.
Following this Person 35 said he must have “remembered incorrectly” and agreed Person 12 “did not shoot a dog”.
On Friday he denied colluding with other witnesses who also wrote in their outline of evidence that Person 12 was removed from his squad after shooting at a dog.
The other soldiers – dubbed Person 32, Person 39 and Person 27 – were all his friends he spoke with regularly but denied discussing the incident with them.
He also disputed the claim that he and Mr Roberts-Smith concocted a story to place Person 12 far away from the scene of the crime.
“That’s incorrect.”
The trial before Justice Anthony Besanko continues.
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