Former soldier Ben Roberts Smith has told radio host Ben Fordam on 2GB that he has no regrets about his military career. Roberts Smith joined the army in 1996 and later became a member of the SASR. His father, Len Roberts Smith, once led a taskforce that found 1,723 plausible complaints of sexual abuse at the Australian Defence Force Academy. The source article defends Roberts Smith against allegations that he unlawfully killed five civilians in Afghanistan, as alleged by the Office of Special Investigator attached to the Brereton Inquiry.
Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has told radio host Ben Fordham he considered suicide for several months after being accused of war crimes. Roberts-Smith, who was arrested in April and charged over the alleged murders of five unarmed detainees in Afghanistan, denies any wrongdoing. He said he decided against suicide because he saw it as surrender. He criticised the decade-long investigation into alleged Australian war crimes and the federal government's changes to war crimes laws. Earlier, a Federal Court judge found he was responsible for several killings in a defamation case.
Ben Roberts-Smith has said his failed defamation case cost billionaire Kerry Stokes upwards of $30 million. Stokes had backed the case, including by paying legal bills. In a radio interview with 2GB, Roberts-Smith said he would not change anything in his military career. He faces five counts of war crime murder linked to his Afghanistan deployments between 2009 and 2012, which he denies. Prosecutors allege the victims were unarmed Afghan nationals. The case returns to court in December.
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Ben Roberts-Smith says he lost his defamation case against Nine newspapers because he did not understand the civil court system, not because he is guilty. In a two-and-a-half-hour interview with 2GB broadcaster Ben Fordham, he denied murdering Afghan prisoners. A Federal Court judge found he was responsible for four unlawful killings on the balance of probabilities. He faces five counts of the war crime of murder, which he vehemently denies. He has not yet stood trial.
Ben Roberts-Smith has rejected claims he drank from the prosthetic leg of an unarmed Afghan man he shot, in a radio interview with 2GB host Ben Fordham. The former SAS soldier, who has been charged with murdering or ordering the murder of five unarmed detainees in Afghanistan, said he had never committed a war crime. He denied shooting prisoners and said he had acted within the laws of armed conflict. A Federal Court judge previously found he was responsible for a number of killings, a finding he has not accepted in the interview.
A new book documents women who endured violence during Indonesia's occupation of Timor-Leste. Among them is Maria de Fátima, who says she was arrested at Baucau's Hotel Flamboyan in 1975 and raped by Indonesian soldiers. She says she was abused for more than 20 years and had four children as a result. Her youngest daughter, Fernanda, learned only years later that her father was an Indonesian soldier. Timor-Leste's truth commission documented 853 cases of sexual violence, though advocates believe the real number is far higher. Survivors are still calling for a formal apology and reparations.
Ben Roberts-Smith, who has been charged over the deaths of five unarmed detainees in Afghanistan, has launched a clothing brand. He says he needs the income to support his family and pay for his legal expenses. Roberts-Smith denies all allegations against him. The brand, EPIC 1 TWO, is named after his radio call sign on the mission for which he received the Victoria Cross. The charges relate to three incidents between 2009 and 2012, which he denies. He attended the opening of Anzac Hall at the Australian War Memorial on Sunday after bail was varied.
Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith has recorded a two-hour interview with Sydney radio host Ben Fordham, according to a source. Sections will air over several days next week on the Tapt Media network, with a full video version to be uploaded to YouTube. Mr Roberts-Smith faces murder charges linked to allegations that he ordered prisoners executed in Afghanistan and killed some himself, which he denies. Prosecutors may use any comments he makes to Fordham in court. The charges are before the New South Wales Local Court and are likely to take years to reach trial.
