Benjamin Roberts-Smith is an Australian former soldier who served in the Australian Army, joining in 1996 at the age of eighteen. He is a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award for gallantry in battle that can be awarded to a member of the Australian Defence Force, which he won for 'conspicuous gallantry' in Afghanistan while on the hunt for a senior Taliban commander. 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, earning a Medal for Gallantry in 2006 and a Commendation for Distinguished Service in 2012. After his discharge from the Australian Army in 2013, Roberts-Smith studied business at the University of Queensland and worked for Seven West Media.
In 2023, a Federal Court judge ruled that reports Ben Roberts-Smith committed four murders were substantially true, a judgement upheld on appeal. Roberts-Smith had sued three newspapers for 2018 reports that alleged he was involved in the murders of unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan, commencing defamation proceedings in August 2018 against media outlets that had published allegations he committed war crimes and bullied other soldiers. Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed the defamation case in June 2023, ruling that the media outlets had established that Roberts-Smith murdered four unarmed Afghans and had broken the rules of military engagement, a decision the Full Court of the Federal Court unanimously dismissed on appeal in May 2025. 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, with the court finding no wrongdoing in how the original trial was conducted.
The allegations are 'egregious' and driven by spiteful and jealous peers.
The specific allegations in the defamation case were detailed and graphic. 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 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. 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, with barrister Nicholas Owens SC stating 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, while the media reports alleged that Roberts-Smith ordered a junior member of the SAS to kill another unarmed prisoner found in the Whiskey 108 tunnel in order to 'blood the rookie.' 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.
Roberts-Smith was arrested Tuesday morning at Sydney Domestic Airport after arriving on a flight from Brisbane with his teenage twin daughters. According to multiple reports, he was taken to Mascot Police Station, handcuffed, and placed in a prison van to Silverwater's Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre. He spent his first night in custody at Silverwater and did not appear in person at the NSW Bail Court on Wednesday morning, with the matter listed for April 17, where Roberts-Smith intends to make a first bail application. The charges stem from a joint investigation by the Office of the Special Investigator and the Australian Federal Police into alleged incidents in Afghanistan between April 2009 and October 2012.
He was a 'squirter' – a Taliban insurgent fleeing the compound.
Ben Roberts-Smith denies all wrongdoing, having previously denied the allegations and launched a multi-million-dollar defamation case in response. According to reports, Ben Roberts-Smith described the man with the prosthetic leg as a 'squirter' – a Taliban insurgent fleeing the compound, and he does not dispute the killing occurred but claims the man was shot lawfully. Roberts-Smith is appealing a federal court judgment that in June dismissed his defamation case over 2018 reports about his alleged involvement in the murder of four unarmed prisoners while deployed in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2012, though he had not been criminally charged and continued to deny all allegations prior to this arrest. He has called the allegations 'egregious' and driven by spiteful and jealous peers.
Reactions from supporters and critics have been sharply divided. A retired US Navy SEAL, Mike Sarraille, called for the release of Ben Roberts-Smith during a live television interview on Sunrise, while high-profile figures including Elon Musk, Gina Rinehart, Tony Abbott, and Pauline Hanson have pledged support for Roberts-Smith. The defendants in the defamation case hailed the verdict as a major victory for media freedom in Australia, and journalist Nick McKenzie described it as a victory for servicemen who testified against their former comrade and for Afghan victims.
The man was shot lawfully.
The Australian War Memorial has become a focal point of controversy. Historians have called for the removal of Ben Roberts-Smith's displays from the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial, but a spokesperson at the Australian War Memorial stated that Roberts-Smith's memorabilia, including medals, would remain in place in the Hall of Valour, though they would review the wording of the interpretive panel. A panel next to the display incorrectly states that Roberts-Smith 'has not been charged with any offence under criminal law,' according to multiple reports. The Australian War Memorial has updated the display dedicated to Ben Roberts-Smith after he was officially charged, with the panel now noting the charges and that the legal process is ongoing, and Matt Anderson, director of the Australian War Memorial, stated the museum remains committed to keeping the public informed and to the presumption of innocence, and that Roberts-Smith's equipment, uniform, and medals will remain on display.
The charges against Roberts-Smith fit into a broader context of war crime investigations in Australia. A former Australian soldier was charged on Tuesday with war crimes on allegations that he killed five unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan from 2009 and 2012, with police alleging the victims were detained, unarmed, and under the control of ADF members when they were killed, and were shot by the accused or subordinate members on his orders. The soldier is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime, following former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of war crime murder for shooting Afghan man Dad Mohammad in May 2012. Australia deployed 39,000 troops to Afghanistan over two decades as part of US and NATO-led operations, and a 2020 military investigation found special forces personnel 'unlawfully killed' 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners.
The legal and financial implications for Roberts-Smith are substantial. The defamation case was one of Australia's longest-running defamation trials and local media has estimated the legal costs to be about US$16 million, with Roberts-Smith's defence partially bankrolled by the boss of Seven West Media, a rival to the three newspapers. Roberts-Smith was photographed holidaying in Bali ahead of the ruling and did not attend court, and he now faces the prospect of paying tens of millions in legal costs, with the total bill likely to exceed $25 million (NZ$27m). This ruling could now clear the way for a criminal investigation by the Australian Federal Police, leading to the current charges.
The exact evidence that led to the war crime charges against Ben Roberts-Smith has not been publicly detailed, nor has the specific breakdown of the five charges, such as whether they involve direct murder or aiding and abetting. The current status of his bail application and conditions will be determined at the April 17 hearing. How the Australian War Memorial's review of the interpretive panel wording will be conducted and when it will be completed remains unclear, as do the identities and roles of the high-profile supporters pledging backing for Roberts-Smith and what form their support takes.