An elite soldier has told a Federal Court defamation trial two SAS colleagues dislike war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith and believe events that earned him the Victoria Cross may have been "falsified".
Key points:
- A serving SAS member is giving evidence about a 2009 mission in Afghanistan
- During his evidence, the soldier agreed Mr Roberts-Smith was brave
- The court heard at least three of Mr Roberts-Smith's colleagues disliked him
Under the pseudonym Person 41, a serving Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) member is giving evidence about a 2009 mission in Afghanistan when Australian patrols were clearing a suspected Taliban compound.
That mission was mentioned in stories published by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times which are now at the centre of Mr Roberts-Smith's defamation case against the newspapers.
Person 41, called by publisher Nine Entertainment, has told the Sydney court he witnessed Mr Roberts-Smith instruct an SAS colleague to shoot a male Afghan captive inside the compound, and "frogmarch" a second Afghan man outside, throw him on the ground and shoot him in the back.
Mr Roberts-Smith previously denied both allegations.
Under cross-examination by Mr Roberts-Smith's barrister Arthur Moses SC, the witness today agreed at least three SAS colleagues disliked Mr Roberts-Smith.
The witness described one, codenamed Person 6, as a "hater" and another, Person 7, as harbouring a "deep dislike".
"It always centred around the fact that Person 7 believed RS [Mr Roberts-Smith] wasn't deserving of the Victoria Cross and the events leading up to that were falsified," the witness told the court.
The Victoria Cross is the highest award in Australia's military honours system.
The witness said the third colleague, codenamed Person 42, held similar beliefs that events "may have been falsified".
"I believe it was along the lines of his arrogance and he thought he was better than everyone else," he said.
He said he could not recall those colleagues ever telling him that Mr Roberts-Smith had allegedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, the witness told the court he didn't report what he saw in the compound due to the "unwritten rule" of SAS operatives going along with what happened.
Today he elaborated, explaining that if he made a report he risked being perceived as "someone who was not willing to perform the tasks" of an SAS trooper.
He said it could have led to him being returned to Australia with "everybody knowing you'd dobbed in, so to speak".
"The career you'd worked so hard for could be over just like that," Person 41 told the judge.
"You just didn't want to make waves or anything like that, especially being the new guy."
Person 41 denied a suggestion from Mr Moses that the reason he made no report about what happened in the compound was because it was untrue.
"That's incorrect, I know what I saw," he said.
He said the first time he told anyone his account of the compound events was in 2020.
"Is what you say you observed ... something which has caused you guilt?" Mr Moses asked.
"To a certain degree, yes," Person 41 replied.
"Shame?" Mr Moses asked.
"Yes," the witness replied.
"A feeling you are a coward because you say you saw something that shouldn't have happened and didn't stop it?" Mr Moses followed up.
Person 41 said he did not feel like a coward because he had put the issue "in the back of my memory" and carried on with life.
Mr Roberts-Smith has previously given evidence of shooting someone on the day of the 2009 mission, but said it was an armed man rounding the corner of the compound.
During his evidence, Person 41 has also agreed Mr Roberts-Smith was a brave soldier who could be relied upon to have his back.
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, continues.
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2022-02-03 01:07:57Z
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