A soldier who fought alongside Ben Roberts-Smith at the battle of Tizak where Roberts-Smith won his Victoria Cross has told the federal court he killed one of the Taliban machine gunners credited to Roberts-Smith on his official VC citation.
During a dramatic and at times emotional three days in the witness box, the decorated former SAS sergeant, known before the court as Person 4, said he still believed Roberts-Smith was a deserving recipient of the Australian military’s highest honour. He said that he had “loved him like a brother”, and that he was “reluctant” to give evidence in the trial brought by his former comrade.
Compelled by a subpoena to give evidence for newspapers defending Roberts-Smith’s defamation claim this week, Person 4 has told the court he saw Roberts-Smith kick an unarmed, handcuffed Afghan civilian off a cliff before ordering the badly injured man be dragged underneath a tree where he was shot dead.
Roberts-Smith is suing the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times over reports he alleges are defamatory and portray him as committing war crimes, including murder, as well as acts of bullying and domestic violence.
The newspapers are pleading a defence of truth. Roberts-Smith denies any wrongdoing.
Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for “most conspicuous gallantry” during a battle at Tizak, in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, on 11 June 2006.
The court heard, in extraordinary detail, Person 4’s account of fighting side-by-side with Roberts-Smith at Tizak, pinned down by relentless machine-gun fire.
“I remember a large sustained machine-gun burst tearing up the ground between myself and Ben Roberts-Smith,” he said.
“I had an absolute feeling of dread and fear due to the amount of fire we were receiving. Not only accurate fire, but sustained, effective fire.”
The court heard that after a first grenade thrown by Roberts-Smith failed to detonate, a second grenade thrown by a third soldier gave Roberts-Smith, supported by Person 4, a chance to storm machine-gun posts.
Roberts-Smith’s official VC citation says: “Roberts-Smith, with a total disregard for his own safety, stormed the enemy position killing the two remaining machine gunners.”
Person 4 told the court he and Roberts-Smith, in subsequent discussions back in Australia, agreed that Person 4 had killed the first machine-gunner with his fire.
“I 100% believe I had shot one of the machine gunners when I was providing cover for RS [Roberts-Smith].”
Person 4 said the awarding of medals was “for others to determine”, and not his motivation for fighting.
“That action, for me, was the highlight of my professional career purely because … I didn’t let them down. We both supported each other. We overcame overwhelming odds together.”
Within days of the battle of Tizak, Person 4 said he was told he would be awarded the Victoria Cross. In days subsequent, the story from comrades in Australia changed to Roberts-Smith would be awarded the medal instead.
Roberts-Smith was invested with the Victoria Cross in January 2011.
It was not until 2013 – two years later – that Person 4 was ultimately awarded the Medal for Gallantry, a lesser decoration, for the same action. In court, Person 4 agreed he had been “hurt” at not receiving the same level of recognition, not for himself but for his family. “I had two children at the time of that action … it was for them.
“I was upset that something as outstanding as what both Ben Roberts-Smith and myself did was politicised,” he told the court.
“They could have accepted the fact both of us did as much as each other that day.”
Arthur Moses SC, acting for Roberts-Smith, put it to Person 4 he was resentful of Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross and subsequent success.
“I loved him as a brother. There’s no resentment there,” Person 4 replied.
“Now you hate him don’t you?”
“Of course I don’t hate him. Believe me, I’m not jealous of him,” Person 4 replied.
Person 4, who was medically discharged from the SAS last year after more than two decades in the military, told the court Roberts-Smith was a polarising figure within the tightknit SAS community.
“There are two camps: for and against. And then there’s me in the middle. I didn’t want anything to do with the ‘against’ camp, I didn’t want anything to do with the ‘for’ camp.”
On Tuesday, Person 4 said he was “reluctant” to give evidence, and had only come to court compelled by the force of a subpoena issued by the newspapers.
Person 4 has given evidence this week that he saw Roberts-Smith kick a handcuffed, unarmed civilian off a cliff during an SAS raid on the village of Darwan in 2012.
Person 4 told the court he had seen Roberts-Smith kick the man in the chest, “catapulting him” off the cliff: “I saw the individual smash his face on a rock, and I saw the teeth explode out of his face.”
Person 4 said that after the Australian soldiers walked down a foot track to the bottom of the cliff, Roberts-Smith ordered him and another subordinate soldier to drag the man under a tree, where he was shot by the other soldier after discussion with Roberts-Smith.
Roberts-Smith has previously told the court this version of events could not have happened because there was no cliff and the man killed was an enemy spotter, lawfully killed after he was encountered hiding in a field.
During his three days in the witness box, Person 4 has repeatedly refused to answer questions about a 2009 SAS mission – raiding a compound called Whiskey 108 in the village of Kakarak – on grounds of potential self-incrimination.
The court has heard evidence from another Australian soldier that during that mission Person 4 shot a captive and unarmed elderly Afghan man, found hiding in a tunnel inside the compound, on the orders of Roberts-Smith. Justice Anthony Besanko did not compel Person 4 to give evidence about Whiskey 108.
Roberts-Smith has denied this killing ever took place and told the court “there were no people in the tunnel at Whiskey 108”.
The trial continues.
