Soldier denies nude pic claim

BEN Roberts-Smith has denied a new string of shocking allegations including that he blackmailed a girlfriend with naked images, threatened to burn her house down and even tried to shoot a dog from a moving car.

The final hours of Mr Roberts-Smith’s cross examination were held in closed court on Friday but not before Nine’s barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, accused the elite soldier of “abusive and controlling” behaviour.

The focus of Mr RobertsSmith’s allegedly abusive behaviour was a girlfriend known only as Person 17 he dated at the end of 2017 and into early 2018.

Nine claims Mr RobertsSmith was having an affair with Person 17. Mr RobertsSmith repeatedly maintained he was separated from his wife at the time.

The newspapers also claim he punched Person 17 in the head after she got drunk and embarrassed him at a Canberra dinner with the Prime Minister and senior army officials.

“That story is completely fabricated, I did not hit a woman, I’ve never hit a woman,” Mr Roberts-Smith said on Friday.

The court has heard Person 17 drunkenly fell down the stairs while leaving the 2018 function in Canberra and hit her head before going back to the hotel with Mr Roberts-Smith.

The barrister said Mr Roberts-Smith took partially naked photos of Person 17 while she was passed out in bed to have something over her.

“No, and that’s disgusting,” Mr Roberts-Smith replied.

The relationship was full of repeated breakups and issues, the court has heard. But Mr Roberts-Smith denied he ever threatened Person 17.

Mr Roberts-Smith stood by his decision to hire a private investigator to follow and film

Person 17 coming out of an abortion clinic because he felt she was lying about her pregnancy. Mr Roberts-Smith said Person 17 admitted she lied but insisted she had miscarried days earlier. Mr Owens claimed the soldier threatened his girlfriend in that conversation as well.

“I will burn your house down if you turn on me and it might not be you that gets hurt but people that you love,” Mr Owens claimed he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith denied it.

A sideshow lawsuit launched by Mr Roberts-Smith against his former wife, Emma Roberts, was briefly heard on Friday before another judge.

That lawsuit came after Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers accused his former wife of accessing privileged and private information from his email and potentially passed it onto Nine.

“The reality is that (Ms Roberts) is extremely bitter,” Mr Roberts-Smith said of his former wife.