"Pure spite": Ben Roberts-Smith denies shocking witness testimony

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith has denied the claim that he was involved in the execution of an Afghan man, suggesting the “outrageous” story came out of “pure spite” that he received the prestigious medal.

Person 41, a former special forces soldier, testified on Wednesday that Mr Roberts-Smith grabbed an unarmed man by the scruff of the neck, forced him to kneel, and told a colleague to “shoot him” during a raid on a Taliban compound.

The soldier said he witnessed the incident in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province in 2009, and was involved in the mission nicknamed Whiskey 108, located in the area.

His testimony comes as Mr Roberts-Smith’s Federal Court case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times resumes. The 43-year-old is suing the publications over allegations he was unlawfully defamed by claims he committed war crimes in Afghanistan. The newspapers have pleaded a truth defence.

Person 41 is the first Australian-based witness to testify for the media outlets.

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He described stepping over the rubble of a bomb-destroyed wall to enter a courtyard where Mr Roberts-Smith and other soldiers were standing.

After finding opium and what he believed was bomb-making equipment in an adjoining room, he returned to the courtyard to find Mr Roberts-Smith, another soldier, and a squatting Afghan man.

Mr Roberts-Smith and the other soldier, referred to as Person Four, asked to borrow his suppressor.

“I thought it was a strange request but I complied … thinking he must need it because he’s going to go into the tunnel,” Person 41 told the court.

But he said that thought changed when Person Four attached the suppressor to his gun before walking back to the Afghan man with Mr Roberts-Smith.

Mr Roberts-Smith then grabbed the man “by the scruff” of his shirt, marched him to Person Four, and kicked his legs out, forcing him to kneel, and facing away.

“RS pointed to the Afghan and said ‘shoot him’ and stepped to the side,” Person 41 said.

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“I didn’t wish to witness what was about to happen,” he said, recalling that he stepped back into the opium room before hearing a single, suppressed shot from a M4 carbine rifle.

He waited for another “15 or so seconds” before walking back into the courtyard, where only Person Four stood.

“There was a dead Afghan at his feet.”

As far as he could remember, nothing was said as Person Four returned the warm suppressor to him.

Mr Roberts-Smith previously testified that the suggestion he ordered the man’s death “shocked” and upset him, saying his “professionalism was being targeted by these individuals and such an outrageous claim was being made”.

An alternate claim that Person Four shot the Afghan man on the orders of another SAS operator, codenamed Person Five, was also dubbed as “completely false” by Mr Roberts-Smith.

His trial against the newspapers has resumed after a six-month hiatus due to the NSW lockdown and strict border closure in WA.

Though some journalists can attend a live web stream, the public are unable to view it due to concerns of any “inadvertent disclosure” of national security information by witnesses, the judge has ruled.

Instead, redacted recordings of each day of the trial will be uploaded to the court’s YouTube channel within 24 hours.

Image: Getty Images