SOLDIER’S TRIAL IS COMING TO AN END
BEN Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial is at the beginning of the end with his lawyers accusing Nine newspapers of a “sustained campaign” to falsely smear the Victoria Cross recipient as a war criminal, bully and domestic abuser.
Two full weeks of closing submissions are now under way in what has variously been called the trial of the century, a proxy war crime trial and an attack on the free press.
But Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers on Monday said their lawsuit was nothing but an attempt to clear the name of one of Australia’s most venerated soldiers.
“Mr Roberts-Smith was an exceptional soldier; highly organised, disciplined, a leader, resourceful and extraordinarily brave,” his barrister Arthur Moses SC told the Federal Court on Monday.
“He did not seek, nor did he want any recognition for performing his duties as a member of the Australian Defence Force. What he did not expect is, having been awarded the Victoria Cross, he would have a target on his back.”
Mr Roberts-Smith launched legal action against the publishers and journalists behind a series of articles in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers in mid-2018. The articles claimed Mr Roberts-Smith killed or was complicit in the murder of six unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan during his deployment with the SAS.
The articles further alleged Mr Roberts-Smith bullied other soldiers and physically abused a woman he was dating while back in Australia.
Mr Roberts-Smith emphatically denies every allegation made by Nine, while the newspapers mounted a truth defence when the soldier sued them for defamation.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team have never publicly revealed how much money they want in terms of damages for Nine’s articles.
But, if Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawsuit succeeds, the payout could dwarf any other in defamation history.