A serving Special Air Service soldier has denied “rehearsing” damaging evidence about Ben Roberts-Smith before appearing in the Federal Court witness box in the war veteran’s defamation case.
The soldier, known as Person 14 because he cannot be identified for national security reasons, was present on tours of Afghanistan with Mr Roberts-Smith in 2009 and 2012. He told the court on Friday he witnessed Mr Roberts-Smith tell an interpreter in 2012 to direct a member of the Afghan Partner Force to shoot an Afghan man they had been questioning, “or I will”.
Ben Roberts-Smith outside the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday.Credit:Flavio Brancaleone
Person 14 said the interpreter “stumbled” verbally and “didn’t relay” the order at first, before saying something in an “Afghan dialect”. A member of the partner force then shot the Afghan man dead, he said.
Mr Roberts-Smith has previously given evidence that he gave no such direction.
Person 14 said he also witnessed a separate incident in 2009 in which an Australian soldier shot an Afghan man at close range with a “distinctive” machine gun, known as the F89 Para Minimi, that he later saw in the possession of Mr Roberts-Smith. “Not many” soldiers carried this light weapon, he said.
The SAS soldier said there were three Australian soldiers around the Afghan man, who appeared from his vantage point like “a black object which was … similar to a human” that was thrown to the ground. It was only on closer inspection that he realised it was an Afghan man with a prosthetic leg, he said.
Person 14 told the court he could not identify any of the three soldiers, although one of them had camouflage paint or “campaint” on his face that was “the same, or similar, campaint style as Ben Roberts-Smith”.
He said on Friday he “saw who had the Minimi” after the mission was completed, and it was “Ben Roberts-Smith”.
Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court that he did kill an Afghan man in 2009 who had a prosthetic leg, but he was an armed combatant who posed a threat.
Under cross-examination by Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses, SC, Person 14 denied on Monday that he had “rehearsed” his evidence last week.
Person 14 agreed there was “potentially” more than one Para Minimi machine gun carried by soldiers on the mission in 2009, and said there was usually “at least” one.
“You weren’t meaning to suggest that the Para Minimi that you say [Mr Roberts-Smith] was carrying was the one that you say you heard made the noise in relation to the dark object?” Mr Moses said.
“No, I’m not suggesting that,” Person 14 said.
“You don’t know, do you?” Mr Moses said. “No,” Person 14 replied. “I know he was carrying an F89 Para.”
Asked if the human-like object he saw in 2009 was black or dark, he said on Monday it was “dark”.
“Not black?” Mr Moses said. “You said black on Friday to His Honour.” Person 14 said it was a dark object. He denied making up or lying about parts of his evidence.
Person 14 has previously told the court that the prosthetic leg belonging to the Afghan man was souvenired by Australian soldiers and used as a drinking vessel, including by him. Asked on Friday if Mr Roberts-Smith ever drank from it, Person 14 said: “Not that I’m aware of.”
Person 14 was asked by Mr Moses on Friday whether he had punched a female soldier from the US, an allegation he rejected as “absurd”. He insisted it was he who had been “towelled up” during an incident in 2012.
On Monday, he said he was “assaulted by a female commissioned officer, struck multiple times in the face and the head and squirrel grabbed, [she] grabbed my testicles, in what was really an unprovoked attack”.
Mr Moses put it to Person 14 that he was “agitated” and “upset” that Mr Roberts-Smith “intervened to help the female soldier”.
“No, Ben actually pulled that soldier off me as she was assaulting me,” Person 14 said. “He definitely broke up what was happening.”
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing for defamation over a series of news reports in 2018 that he says portray him as a war criminal. Person 14 is the second member of the SAS to give evidence for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times as the news outlets seek to defend the defamation suit.
The Age and the Herald, owned by Nine, and The Canberra Times, now under separate ownership, are seeking to rely on a defence of truth. They allege Mr Roberts-Smith committed or was involved in six murders of Afghans under the control of Australian troops, when they cannot be killed under the rules of engagement.
Mr Roberts-Smith maintains any killings in Afghanistan were carried out lawfully in the heat of battle. The hearing continues.
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