War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith did not push a handcuffed Afghan prisoner off a cliff and there was no cliff at the site of the alleged incident, his lawyer said in his Federal Court defamation case.
The court is hearing final submissions in the defamation claim brought by the decorated former soldier against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times. The media allege that Roberts-Smith was complicit in five unlawful killings of Afghan prisoners between 2009 and 2012.
Ben Roberts-Smith outside the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday. Credit: Nick Moir
One of the key allegations in the papers was that Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed and handcuffed villager named Ali Jan off a cliff in Darwan on September 11, 2012, before the man was shot dead But Arthur Moses, SC, acting for Roberts-Smith, told the court on Monday that “there was no clear contemporary evidence about the geography of the area, including, importantly, the cliff … which is called that Ali Jan was expelled.”.
He said a “photo from a surveillance position, which is in evidence,” was unclear and “with all due respect … there is no cliff.”
“It’s more like a sand mound. I mean, there are bigger highs at Bondi Beach here in Sydney or Henley Beach in Adelaide,” Anthony Besanko, who is based in Adelaide but has traveled to Sydney for the trial
“We say this was just part of the drama that was attached to a false story that has been circulating.”
Exhibit in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case, showing the village of Darwan. The ‘X’ marked with ‘B’ and an arrow is said to be the cliff from which Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked a village. He denies the accusation.
Roberts-Smith claims the newspapers wrongly accused him of war crimes in Afghanistan, as well as harassing former colleagues and attacking a former lover. The media seeks to rely primarily on the defense of truth.
A former Special Air Service comrade, Person 4, told the court he saw Roberts-Smith kick the handcuffed man off a cliff before hearing gunshots, and saw a second soldier, Person 11, with his rifle raised in a firing position.