Decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has failed to overturn findings that he likely engaged in war crimes while on deployment in Afghanistan.
The recipient of the Victoria Cross filed a defamation lawsuit against Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters following their 2018 reports alleging that he had engaged in war crimes.
However, in 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko determined that the allegations, which accused Roberts-Smith of being accountable for the deaths of four unarmed civilians while stationed in Afghanistan, were largely accurate.
Roberts-Smith launched an appeal against findings, which was heard in the Federal Court over 10 days in February 2024.
After a year of waiting, the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed his appeal on Friday.
The court agreed that Nine’s defense was well-supported by evidence and maintained Justice Besanko’s conclusion that the claims of war crimes were largely accurate.
The decision clears the path for Roberts-Smith to pay out tens of millions of dollars, after the cost of the defamation proceedings was tipped to exceed $25 million back in 2023.
Taking into account the subsequent appeal and interlocutory issues, the final bill could now be far higher.
Roberts-Smith may elect to continue the seven-year legal saga to the High Court in a last-ditch attempt to clear his name.
The original decision found Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four unarmed men while serving in Afghanistan.
The soldier first rose to prominence in 2011 after he was awarded Australia’s highest military honour, the Victoria Cross, for single-handedly taking out machine-gun posts to protect pinned-down colleagues in Afghanistan.
Later named Australian father of the year, his reputation was tarnished by McKenzie’s explosive reports in 2018 alleging the former SAS corporal was complicit in war crimes.
The reports claimed Roberts-Smith machine-gunned a man with a prosthetic leg – which he then encouraged soldiers to use as a drinking vessel.
On the same day in 2009, Roberts-Smith was alleged to have ordered the execution of an elderly prisoner to “blood the rookie” during a raid on a compound known as Whiskey 108.
The former special forces soldier was accused of kicking a handcuffed prisoner off a cliff in the village of Darwan before dragging him to a creek and ordering his execution on September 11, 2012.
Nine’s coverage claimed Roberts-Smith ordered another prisoner be shot and killed after a weapons cache was discovered in the village of Cinartu.
Justice Besanko’s findings – upheld on Friday – were made on the balance of probabilities.
Roberts-Smith has not been charged over the allegations.
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