The ultimate moments in Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial have featured a rare speech by the SAS soldier’s lawyer.
Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial is originally of the tip along with his legal professionals accusing 9 newspapers of a “sustained marketing campaign” to falsely smear the Victoria Cross recipient as a warfare prison, bully and home abuser with unfounded articles and a contorted court docket case.
Two full weeks of closing submissions at the moment are underway in what has variously been referred to as the trial of the century, a proxy warfare crime trial and an assault on the free press.
However Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal professionals, on Monday, stated their lawsuit is nothing however an try and clear the title of one in all Australia’s most honored troopers.
“Mr Roberts-Smith was an distinctive soldier; extremely organised, disciplined, a frontrunner, resourceful and terribly courageous,” his barrister Arthur Moses SC informed the Federal Court docket on Monday.
“He didn’t search, nor did he need any recognition for performing his duties as a member of the Australian Defence Drive. What he didn’t count on is, having been awarded the Victoria Cross, he would have a goal on his again.”
Mr Roberts-Smith launched authorized motion in opposition to the publishers and journalists behind a collection of articles within the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers in mid-2018.
The articles claimed Mr Roberts-Smith killed or was complicit within the homicide of six unarmed prisoners on the battlefields of Afghanistan throughout his deployment with the SAS.
The articles additional alleged Mr Roberts-Smith bullied different troopers and bodily abused a lady he was courting whereas again in Australia.
Mr Roberts-Smith emphatically denies each allegation made by 9 whereas the newspapers mounted a reality defence when the elite soldier sued them for defamation.
After greater than 100 days of proof, authorized groups for Mr Roberts-Smith and 9 have begun summarising their instances to Federal Court docket Decide Anthony Besanko.
Mr Moses started his closing tackle with a blistering denouncement of 9’s conduct, claiming the newspapers had refused to again down from errors of their tales, even within the face of contradictory proof, and as an alternative used the court docket to launch extra unfounded allegations.
“This isn’t a couple of path dwelling to victory, as (9) have at one time put their case,” Mr Moses stated.
“Fairly that is about (9) utilizing the processes of this court docket to make allegations of homicide which can have nationwide and worldwide repurcusisons the applicant and different members of the Australian Defence Drive who they’ve accused of homicide.”
The court docket has heard from quite a few troopers who’ve been implicated by 9’s reporting of warfare crime allegations – many fiercely denied they carried out executions, others refused to testify on the grounds of self-incrimination.
However Mr Moses stated that, even when the proof got here up brief, 9 refused to withdraw grave allegations in opposition to Mr Roberts-Smith.
He pointed to an allegation Mr Roberts-Smith shot useless a teenage boy throughout one mission outdoors the authorized guidelines of warfare.
“Because the proof revealed, there was no 13 to 14-year-old boy concerned in any incident, nor was there any killing with out justification. This allegation was baseless and mustn’t have been persevered with,” Mr Moses stated.
“Presumably it was persevered with to wreck Mr Roberts-Smith in support of the opposite allegations propounded on this matter.”
Mr Moses informed the court docket 9’s “sensationalist” tales stemmed from bitter and jealous SAS insiders who have been making an attempt to tear down Mr Roberts-Smith.
Federal MP Andrew Hastie is without doubt one of the SAS witnesses who, in response to Mr Moses, was “obsessed” with Mr Roberts-Smith however had failed to supply proof to again up 9’s claims of homicide.
Mr Hastie, an SAS veteran who deployed briefly alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in 2012, gave proof for 9 about one mission within the area of Syahchow.
9 claimed Mr Roberts-Smith ordered a junior soldier, often known as Individual 66, to execute an Afghan captive through the mission.
Mr Hastie was at Syahchow that day and informed the court docket he noticed a useless physique with an AK-47 assault rifle and noticed Individual 66 trying uncharacteristically uneasy.
The MP claims Mr Roberts-Smith walked previous and stated “only a couple extra useless c***s”.
Mr Hastie additionally informed the court docket he had “desires” about Mr Roberts-Smith through which they’d killed an Australian troop and “lined it up”.
The MP stated he believed the dream was a metaphor for a “deep reality” about “what we had achieved to ourselves” in Afghanistan.
Individual 66 refused to testify about Syahchow on the grounds of self incrimination.
9 stated his proof would have been a possible “path to victory”, however Justice Besanko refused to order Individual 66 to testify about Syahchow.
Mr Moses, on Monday, stated there was merely no proof to help 9’s declare of homicide at Syahchow however the allegation stays of their court docket paperwork.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s authorized staff have by no means publicly revealed how a lot cash they need when it comes to damages for 9’s articles.
However, if Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawsuit succeeds, the payout may dwarf every other in defamation historical past due to the seriousness of a number of warfare crime homicide allegations, his prior good fame, earlier enterprise successes and the “avalanche” of publicity that has continued by way of the court docket case.
Initially revealed as ‘Sensationalist’: Ben Roberts-Smith case closes with fiery speech
