Ben Roberts-Smith was charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. According to official sources, the alleged war crimes include five murders of unarmed prisoners. Australian Federal Police allege the victims were unarmed, detained, and under Australian Defence Force control when killed, shot by Roberts-Smith or subordinates on his orders. Media reports alleged that Roberts-Smith ordered a junior member of the SAS to kill another unarmed prisoner found in a tunnel in order to 'blood the rookie'. The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times alleged that Roberts-Smith had kicked an unarmed Afghan civilian off a cliff and ordered subordinates to shoot him. Roberts-Smith was also said to have taken part in the machine-gunning of a man with a prosthetic leg, later bringing the leg back to Australia and using it as a drinking vessel with comrades.
Before these allegations emerged, Roberts-Smith had been Australia's most famous and distinguished living soldier. He is an Australian former soldier who served in the Australian Army, joining in 1996 at the age of eighteen. Roberts-Smith was deployed to East Timor in 1999, to operations off Fiji in 2004, to Security Detachment Iraq in 2005 and 2006, and to Afghanistan on six occasions during 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2012. He was awarded a Medal for Gallantry in 2006 and a Commendation for Distinguished Service in 2012. Roberts-Smith won the Victoria Cross for 'conspicuous gallantry' in Afghanistan while on the hunt for a senior Taliban commander on 11 June 2010, an award that is the highest for gallantry in battle that can be awarded to a member of the Australian Defence Force. He met Queen Elizabeth II and his image hung in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
I worry that people think I hit a woman.
In August 2018, Roberts-Smith commenced defamation proceedings against media outlets that had published allegations that he had committed war crimes and bullied other soldiers. He sued three newspapers for 2018 reports that alleged he was involved in the murders of unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan. Roberts-Smith denied the allegations and launched a multi-million-dollar defamation case in response. After two years of proceedings, Justice Anthony Besanko ruled that the papers had proven the bulk of their allegations to be 'substantially true' and dismissed the case against them. In June 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed the defamation case, ruling that the media outlets had established that Roberts-Smith murdered four unarmed Afghans and had broken the rules of military engagement. The case was one of Australia's longest-running defamation trials, with legal costs estimated at about US$16 million.
During the defamation trial, numerous witnesses provided testimony. Allegations that Roberts-Smith dragged a prisoner with a prosthetic leg outside an Afghan compound before machine-gunning him were backed up by numerous witnesses, a court has heard. A barrister representing the newspapers said allegations about the murder of a prisoner with a prosthetic leg outside a compound called Whiskey 108 had been corroborated by four soldiers. Barrister Nicholas Owens SC said three witnesses gave 'strikingly coherent accounts' of Roberts-Smith manhandling the man before throwing him to the ground and machine-gunning him in 2009. A fourth witness said he had seen the body on the ground and recognised the man as a prisoner who had been brought out of a tunnel discovered in the Whiskey 108 compound. Owens said there was a 'powerful inference' the junior soldier had stopped to put a suppressor on his M4 rifle before shooting the man in the head. Roberts-Smith was also alleged to have kicked a handcuffed prisoner off a cliff before ordering his execution near Darwan in September 2012 and separately ordering the execution of a prisoner after a weapons cache was found in Chinartu in October that same year.
The allegations are egregious and driven by spiteful peers.
Roberts-Smith appealed the defamation verdict. An appeal to the Full Court of the Federal Court was heard over ten days, beginning on 5 February 2024, and was unanimously dismissed on 16 May 2025. The Federal Court upheld the original judgment that media reports published by Nine Newspapers alleging Roberts-Smith was involved in the murder of four unarmed civilians were substantially true. A panel of three justices dismissed both his appeal and a last-minute attempt to reopen the case over a secret recording, which Roberts-Smith argued showed a miscarriage of justice. The court found no wrongdoing in how the original trial was conducted. The High Court of Australia refused an application by Roberts-Smith for special leave to appeal on 4 September 2025 and ordered him to pay the defendants' costs. This ruling could now clear the way for a criminal investigation by the Australian Federal Police.
Following the defamation trial outcome, Roberts-Smith resigned from Seven West Media. He had temporarily stepped down from his role at Seven Brisbane in 2021 to focus on his defamation action against Nine Entertainment. Roberts-Smith was photographed holidaying in Bali ahead of the ruling and did not attend court. After his arrest, multiple reports indicate he is being held at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre within Silverwater Correctional Centre. According to major media sources, Roberts-Smith was met by prison governor Pat Aboud, a former soldier, upon arrival at the MRRC. A prison source described Roberts-Smith as 'cool, calm and collected' in prison and said he is housed in a Darcy pod, able to mix with other prisoners.
He disgraced his country by his conduct in Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith is 202cm tall and 47 years old. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, and is the elder son of Sue and Len Roberts-Smith. After his discharge from the Australian Army in 2013, Roberts-Smith was awarded a scholarship to study business at the University of Queensland. In 2015, Kerry Stokes appointed Roberts-Smith as deputy general manager of Seven Queensland, and he was later promoted to General Manager of Seven Brisbane. Roberts-Smith's defence was partially bankrolled by the boss of Seven West Media.
Personal allegations also surfaced during the defamation proceedings. Roberts-Smith's ex-wife and mistress testified against him in the defamation trial, while his current girlfriend and mother supported him. Roberts-Smith was also accused of domestic violence against a woman in a Canberra hotel, an allegation the justice said had not been proven. The defamation judge did not substantiate the alleged 2018 domestic violence claim but ruled it had 'contextual truth'.
The verdict was a major victory for media freedom in Australia.
The case occurs against a broader backdrop of Australian military conduct in Afghanistan. A 2020 military report found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan noncombatants. Australia deployed 39,000 troops to Afghanistan over two decades as part of US and NATO-led operations. Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime, after Oliver Schulz.
Reactions from veterans and institutions have been mixed. The Australian War Memorial updated its display for Roberts-Smith to note he was charged with five counts of murder, but his uniform and medals remain. Historians have called for the removal of Roberts-Smith's display from the Hall of Valour, but the Memorial has kept it with updated wording. A veteran gave his medals to MP Bob Katter to return to Canberra, expressing betrayal over Roberts-Smith's arrest.
The legal proceedings have carried significant financial implications. Roberts-Smith now faced the prospect of paying tens of millions in legal costs, with the total bill likely to exceed $25 million.
Several key details remain unclear as the criminal case proceeds. The exact breakdown of the murder charges—whether they involve direct acts or aiding and abetting—has not been officially detailed by authorities. The current status of Roberts-Smith's criminal trial and its timeline for proceeding have not been publicly announced. What specific evidence or witness testimonies are being used in the criminal case beyond the defamation trial findings is unknown.
Broader reactions and systemic responses are also not fully documented. How Australian veterans and the public are reacting to the arrest and charges, beyond isolated incidents reported, remains to be seen. What measures, if any, are being taken by the Australian Defence Force or government to address systemic issues highlighted by this case has not been specified.