Ben Roberts-Smith would quite possibly be a free man today if he had not instituted defamation proceedings against Nine Entertainment’s papers, The SMH and The Age, with the financial help of billionaire Kerry Stokes.
The defamation case unearthed previously unknown evidence, even unknown to law enforcement according to journalist Nick McKenzie, and made the evidence public which would have put pressure on law enforcement to act.
Below I will outline the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith, his charges and then comment further regarding Kerry Stokes and the failed defamation case.
The SMH reported on Tuesday (7/4/26):
Ben Roberts-Smith has been charged with multiple war crimes over the alleged murders of unarmed Afghan civilians and prisoners in what will become the most significant military prosecution in Australian history.
The charges, five counts of war crime – murder, followed Roberts-Smith’s surprise arrest at Sydney Airport on Tuesday and after a joint investigation between the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment
He has been refused police bail and will spend Tuesday night in custody at Silverwater Correction Complex before appearing before a bail division court on Wednesday.
The federal police said the charges against Roberts-Smith, which he has previously strongly disputed, would allege that he:
- Kicked an Afghan civilian off a cliff and directed a subordinate to execute the man in September 2012;
- Executed a prisoner with a prosthetic leg during an Easter Sunday mission in southern Afghanistan in 2009 and ordered another subordinate to murder a second detainee, an old man, captured in the same compound;
- Ordered a junior SAS soldier to execute an unarmed detainee in a ritual known as blooding in October 2012, and was involved in a second murder during the same incident.
Told of the looming charges, one SAS eyewitness told this masthead that he and other veterans had decided to assist the OSI because no Australian soldier was above the law, no matter how grim the fallout.
“Well, it’s all about the truth, and I think, honour. And we lost men in Afghanistan, like regular army fellas and the commandos. And how do you honour them? By telling the truth,” he said, speaking anonymously due to confidentiality requirements.
He alleged the war crime he had witnessed involved a defenceless detainee and occurred “after the dust has settled”.
“There’s no fog of war, there’s no bullets flying around … this was completely contrary to our mission, we weren’t there to kill civilians or people who didn’t deserve to die,” he said. (Click here to read more)
The Office of the Special Investigator (OSI), which was set up to investigate alleged war crimes, and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) gave a press conference on Tuesday (7/4/26) as per below:
On Wednesday morning (8/4/26) Ben Roberts-Smith’s lawyers did not apply for bail which means he will stay in Silverwater jail until a bail hearing on the 17th of April 2026.
Why did the Australian Federal Police arrest Ben Roberts-Smith at the Sydney Airport and not in Queensland? I think they have done what is called “jurisdiction shopping” (or forum shopping) and chosen NSW as that is what best suits the prosecutors for whatever reason.
I published an article in June 2023 titled “Ben Roberts-Smith undoing was Kerry Stokes’ failed legal strategy and his own witnesses colluding” which covers most of the self-inflicted damage from the defamation case. The article starts off:
When some of the SAS witnesses Nine Entertainment subpoenaed refused to give evidence about alleged war crimes on the grounds of self-incrimination it was game, set and match as far as proving war crimes had been committed in Afghanistan.
After that it only had to be proven that Ben Roberts-Smith had committed war crimes which numerous witnesses had already accused Roberts-Smith of doing.
Any chance Roberts-Smith had of winning the defamation case against Nine’s papers relied on the witnesses he called to support him, in denying he had committed war crimes, being more credible than the witness Nine called accusing him of war crimes.
Ben Roberts-Smith’s whole case crashed once it was shown that Roberts-Smith and four of his witnesses colluded in giving false evidence about an Afghan soldier dubbed “Person 12” shooting a dog and being banned from patrolling with Australian soldiers.
and:
Once it was proven that Ben Roberts-Smith and four of his witnesses had colluded to give false evidence, with the help of the lawyer who coached Person 27, then their credibility was destroyed.
Then add the witness collusion and lawyer witness coaching to the other allegations and evidence against Ben Roberts-Smith such as:
- Destroying evidence by burning his laptop.
- Asking his ex-wife to lie about his affair or she would lose the children.,
- Intimidating witnesses such as the false complaint to the AFP about Person 6 having weapons who then raided Person 6’s house.
- Sending threatening letters from a Channel Seven office.
- His meetings with former AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty to get inside information from the AFP about the AFP’s investigation into his alleged war crimes.
The list of things that Ben Roberts-Smith did in Australia trying to manipulate the result of the defamation court case is a mile long and almost all of it was exposed in court during the trial. It resulted in Ben Roberts-Smith and his witnesses having no creditability and meant the judge could not possibly find in Ben Roberts-Smith’s favour. (Click here to read the full article)
Do the people who say Ben Roberts-Smith should not have been charged with war crimes also think it is ok for Roberts-Smith to have committed crimes, as listed above, during his defamation trial?
Kerry Stokes financed and controlled Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case against Nine Entertainment’s papers, The SMH and The Age, and without Kerry Stokes’ financial support Roberts-Smith likely would not have sued for defamation.
And if there was no defamation lawsuit by Ben Roberts-Smith there would be a lot of evidence that was not in the public domain and not in the hands of law enforcement and a fair chance he would not have been charged with the war crimes.
If Ben Roberts-Smith is found guilty of the alleged war crimes I think he will live to regret the day he met Kerry Stokes.
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Categories: Kerry Stokes
The sheer arrogance & pomposity of Ben Roberts-Smith will further accommodate his downfall. He is guilty as charged & many, many people will cheer loudly when he gets just punishment for his evil actions. He should never see the light of day again.
The coming movie script for this series of murders should open with BRS looking in the mirror one morning and muttering, “Thanks Kerry, old pal, for nothing!”
It goes without saying Kerry Stokes in the minds of many may appear to be all about Kerry and the dollar. Ben Roberts-Smith was just another person whom Kerry utilised in his quest. Time will tell of Stokes loyalty. Oh its okay he will use shareholders funds to assist BRS in the next court saga or will he ?
No matter what anyone thinks of Ben the whole affair is odious. He was exalted and decorated, those whom made that decision were totally incompetent and or sadly lacking vital information on which to make a valid decision. As a result they have brought disgrace upon the value of the Victoria Cross.
Why has this matter taken so many years and such vast sums of taxpayers money to get a single soldier before the court ? Justice delayed is Justice denied.
Evidence at one of the hearings given by a former SAS comrade of his in Afghanistan is that he was told he’d been recommended for the VC, the a couple of weeks later it was awarded to BRS.
The guy said it was deserved, though not for that particular action, where BRS’s part was minor.
The suggestion was that there has been complaints about BRS, but since his father was the present Governor of Western Australia and a Major General and Supreme Court Judge., it was politically impossible to reove BRS from Afghanistan [destroying his career and reputation] so awarding the VC [and using that as the excuse to bring him home] got everyone off the hook.
Parallels with the Voyager disaster, where an alcoholic Captain took a left turn in his destroyer rather than a right turn and it was sunk by it’s aircraft carrier.
Prior interest in relieving the incompetent Captain Stevens went nowhere, possibly because his father had been a Public Service Department secretary during several Menzies Governments as well as finishing WW2 as a Major General.
Len Roberts-Smith was not, and never has been, Governor of WA.
Well a crime is a crime and this time the criminal doesn’t walk away, and the old adage that army intelligence is an oxymoron is never more evident than here
I suggest that it is the spineless politicians & incompetent top Army brass who sent our soldiers on multiple tours to Afghanistan with poor Rules of Engagement that only endangered them more who should be arrested & put on trial. There was little to no distinction between civilians & Taliban,exacerbated by the “catch & release” policy. The result of this 10 year disaster for us & Afghanistan was replacing the Taliban with the Taliban,yet no decision makers will be held accountable – what a disgrace!!
I grew up living next door to a Gallipoli veteran and just down the street from a Victoria Cross recipient. As a boy, I spent time with both men – especially the Gallipoli veteran – and I knew them as deep-thinking individuals who wrestled with their own PTSD (shell shock) and the legacy of war.
They were men of quiet courage, who carried their memories and sorrows with dignity, often speaking softly but with profound insight. I remember the way the Gallipoli veteran would pause, lost in thought, as if listening to echoes from decades past, and how the VC recipient, despite his decorated service, treated everyone around him with a mix of gentle humour and stern fairness.
They were ordinary men in their daily lives, yet extraordinary in their experiences and the lessons they quietly imparted to those around them.
I am certain that both of these men would fully condemn not only the alleged crimes committed in Afghanistan but also the reprehensible behaviour that followed. Justice must be pursued fully, without fear or favour, and the law must be allowed to reach its conclusion.
I also sincerely hope that the Australian government has ensured proper compensation for the extended families of the victims, many of whom appear to have been the primary earners in their households.
The human cost is immense, and these families deserve recognition and support.
Let the gavel fall and let justice echo for those who can no longer speak.
What ever happens, the usual thing is that the accused and if subsequently found guilty keep their medals for gallantry. The then Sir Terrence Lewis, former Queensland Commissioner of Police was jailed, stripped of his knighthood. However he was allowed to keep his George Medal
There’s a serious need to seperate the hard reality from the RW/Political Media contrived myth. Again like clockwork we have the usual divisive LNP/Hanson Political suspects and their Media/Billionaire bankrollers demanding the myths be upheld no matter how revolting the reality.
My Great uncle, last of the 10th Light horse, in a Doco “Palestine, The last ANZACS tell all”, stated that knowing what he knew now, he would rather have fought with the Turks against the British, such was the slaughter inflicted on the 10th Light horse and other ANZAC regiments, by the British. All ten of the Last surviving ANZACS in this Doco, pleaded that Gallipoli never be commemorated in any way. They wanted the slaughter, erased from memory and their victories commemorated instead. Every rotten dirty unnecassery war ever inflicted on our country has been inflicted by the LNP. These same usual LNP suspects Howard, Abbott etc, ignored the ANZACS, just as Stokes and Rhinehart, her puppet Hanson and the entire usual suspect RW Media, are so blatantly doing now with this BRS prosecution. This is a criminal prosecution and they have turned it into just another “Lehrmann” like political point scoring rally , all evidence ignored, for their own selfish vested interests as they do with everything, again and again.
Look at the Scoundrels who support him
A.Bott, Hanson, Rinehart and rapist protector Stokes.
Similar to Trumps deplorable line up of supporters.
The company you keep something… something
My blood was boiling listening to those po-faced individuals,the AFP DEI hire & some other bureaucrat, laying out all the charges & potential penalties against BRS & thanking all those who didn’t put their lives on the line then as a brief aside mentioning the presumption of innocence.
What the hell were all those ribbons for that the AFP Commissioner was wearing? Definitely none for bravery in a hostile environment like Afghanistan!!
I have not been a soldier so cannot comment from experience.
However the politicians and senior military persons who kept sending soldiers back into situations where it was / is hard to differentiate between friend and foe should also be charged along with any subordinates.
Decisions have to be made in a split second or you could be dead.
How can people sit back on their slack backsides and pick holes in people they sent into those situations.
Were mistakes made?
Mistakes always occur in war though they are often covered up by the upper echelons and the proverbial flows down hill onto the worker bees.
How did B R_S collect all those medals and ribbons?
For putting his life on the line.!!
Now criminal Richard Craniums want to charge him with war crimes ????
UNBELIEVABLE
Trust he is released without further crap – as he should be.
As per the article, soldiers who were there say he should be charged. Why do you ignore that?
BRS didn’t make mistakes. He decided to commit murder without being pressured, and he decided to involve others. His only excuse perhaps is that war caused him to become insane. Or was he just a psychopath who tried to cover his tracks?
For me this highlights glaring gapping holes in what evidence is admitted or concealed by criminal law itself as this evidence only became known after the failed defamation case revealed it. I would like to understand and learn how our criminal justice system can ethically operate if this evidence is not obtainable within the criminal law procedures themselves. This is a clear systemic and structural problem nationally.
Viewpoints:
Citizen: Innocent until proven guilty (Har,har,har)
Cops, lawyers, probably judges: Guilty until proven not guilty
Citizens have to fight their battle in courts with limited means against the might and resources of the State.
Maybe we should compose BRS`s jury of men who served in that dirty, far-away war?
The similarities with the Epstein and Lehrmann cases are instructive. In all 3 cases the investigations and subsequent prosecutions (and non-prosecutions) confirmed a lot of what many of us believed about the unscrupulous and anti-democratic nature of the Establishment. The crimes themselves were odious of course, but what they demonstrate of the behaviour of the “Special People” (Trump, Rinehart, Stokes et al) should cause huge concern. Shocking but certainly not surprising.
I guess Paul Brereton, commissioner of the Australian National ‘Anti’-Corruption Commission, who was handpicked by 2PP deal on the basis of his ability to expertly bury Afghanistan war crimes, didn’t do as much of a good job of it as they think, after all. Oopsie.