Ben Roberts-Smith: Australian soldier loses landmark defamation case

Australia's most-decorated living soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has lost a historic defamation case against three newspapers which accused him of war crimes in Afghanistan.

The Australian newspapers were sued over several articles which also said he had bullied peers and punched a woman with whom he was having an affair.

It is the first time in history a court has assessed allegations of war crimes by Australian forces.

The judge said the lengthy civil trial had proved the murder allegations - denied by Mr Roberts-Smith - were substantially true.

Justice Anthony Besanko found the newspapers had not been able to prove the allegations that he assaulted his lover, or the claim he had threatened to report a junior colleague if he did not falsify field reports.

Mr Roberts-Smith has not been charged over any of the claims and no findings have been made against him in a criminal court. He was not present for Thursday's judgement.

The 44-year-old received Australia's highest military award - the Victoria Cross - in 2011 for having single-handedly overpowered Taliban machine-gunners who had been attacking his SAS platoon.

But Mr Roberts-Smith's public image was ruined in 2018 when journalists Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters and David Wroe started publishing articles about his misconduct in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.

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