Ben Roberts-Smith will have to wait several months before learning the full scope of allegations against him, as his war crimes case returned to court for the first time since his release on bail.
Court Proceedings
Australia's most decorated living soldier and Victoria Cross recipient faces five counts of war crime murder related to his deployment in Afghanistan. Mr Roberts-Smith was granted bail in April after spending over a week in custody at Silverwater prison.
On Tuesday, the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney was informed that the brief of evidence—comprising all material the prosecution intends to use—could not be served on Mr Roberts-Smith's legal team until a court order is made under the National Security Information Act.
Judge Susan Horan scheduled a two-hour hearing for September 1. Both the Crown and defense consented to the order, which requires the judge to determine its necessity. Mr Roberts-Smith was not present; his West Australian-based solicitor Karen Espiner appeared via audio-visual link.
Background
This was the first court mention since Judge Greg Grogin released Mr Roberts-Smith on bail. In his initial public statement after being charged in April, Mr Roberts-Smith declared his intention to clear his name.
“For the past 10 years, my family and I have been subject to a campaign to convince Australians that I’ve acted improperly in my service in Afghanistan,” he said. “As I’ve always maintained, I categorically deny all of these allegations. And while I would’ve preferred these charges not be brought, I will be taking the opportunity to finally clear my name.”
Charges
Mr Roberts-Smith was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in April as he stepped off a flight from Brisbane, charged with five counts of war crime murder. He is alleged to have participated in the killings of five unarmed men while serving as an SAS soldier in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. He has yet to enter pleas.
The first two charges relate to the alleged killing of two men at a compound known as Whiskey 108 in Kakarak on April 12, 2009. Mr Roberts-Smith is accused of ordering another officer to kill one man and shooting another—who had a prosthetic leg—in the head.
He also allegedly took part in the murder of Ali Jan in Darwan in September 2012, where he is said to have kicked the handcuffed man down a cliff and ordered another soldier to shoot the shepherd in a cornfield. The final two charges involve the alleged killing of two “persons under control” at Syahchow in October 2012, where Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly ordered a soldier to execute one prisoner and jointly murdered the other.
Mr Roberts-Smith has long maintained his innocence. The allegations were previously examined in his unsuccessful Federal Court defamation suit against Nine Newspapers, where findings were made on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities—lower than the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
