Ben Roberts-Smith threatens fellow soldier amid war crimes reports in 2018 phone call

A furious Ben Roberts-Smith berated a fellow soldier he believed had been speaking to the media about war crimes allegations, telling him to “stick to the f**king code”, newly released audio reveals.

Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday night played a recording of the never-before-heard phone call, which the Victoria Cross recipient made to a fellow SAS member known as “Soldier M” in 2018 amid the growing media storm.

Soldier M is a relative of Australia’s richest person, billionaire Gina Rinehart, and prior to the phone call Mr Roberts-Smith had sent him a threatening legal letter — with the mining magnate CCed in.

“Yeah, it’s RS, mate,” Mr Roberts-Smith says in the audio.

“Because I know you’ve talked s**t about me, right? I know that.

“I’ve got no ill will towards anyone that has no ill will towards me, it’s real simple. So you know, like, I’m 100 per cent, I stick to the f**king code, mate, 100 per cent, and I have. So all the s**t that’s going on, I’m still probably the only c**t that hasn’t f**king spoken.

“I don’t trust you, mate, I haven’t been able to trust you for a long time. You say we’re mates. We used to be actually, but for some f**king reason I’ve just become the centre of all evil for you and the group of people …

“You’ve got a young child, I’ve got a f**king family, I want to move on, I’m so sick of f**king army, the unit and all the bulls**t. Just remember I was minding my own business, just trying to do my job, and I get attacked by all these f**king journalists. I haven’t spoken a word about it to anyone in the unit.”

On Thursday, Mr Roberts-Smith lost his long-running defamation trial against Nine newspapers’ The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.

Journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters first reported in 2018 that while in Afghanistan, the Australian soldier had machine gunned an unarmed insurgent with a prosthetic leg and that he had kicked an innocent civilian off a cliff, among other allegations.

Federal court judge Anthony Besanko ruled that, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Roberts-Smith was indeed a war criminal and a murderer, as the allegations had been proven to be “substantially true”.

He said the allegations of threats and domestic violence against Mr Roberts-Smith could not be proven, but was “satisfied” the newspapers had upheld the defence of contextual truth.

Justice Besanko also found that while not every alleged murder could be established, two key killings had taken place.

As well as being found by the judge to be a murderer, Mr Roberts-Smith was also found in the judgment to have “broken the moral and legal rules of military engagement and is therefore a criminal”.

The judge also found he disgraced his country and the Australian Army through his conduct.

The publication of the full reasons for the long-awaited outcome in the multimillion-dollar defamation trial will be delayed.

On Friday, the 44-year-old resigned from his senior position at Channel 7.

The landmark decision came after an extraordinary 22-week trial which saw 32 current and former SAS members give evidence.

One of those 32, known as “Person Y”, who has never spoken to the media, appeared anonymously on 60 Minutes on Sunday.

“You don’t win insurgencies on body counts, yet here is a guy who thinks he’s going to win the war by killing as many people as possible,” he told the program.

“We are not above the law, we are not above the rules of engagement, but I think for him he felt he was above all that, that the rules don’t apply. Many people are having a hard time reconciling the fact that someone they thought was a national hero is in fact the complete opposite, proven to be a bully, a liar and a murderer.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow, especially for a country that’s believed the lies for so long.

“I think they thought they were above the law, that they were not going to be caught, that it was a free-for-all.

“I think I could say on behalf of every guy who took the witness stand that none of us wanted to be there, that’s just not who we are.”

Mr Roberts-Smith did not appear in court in person for the judgment, but was seen soaking up the sunshine in Bali.

Outside court, McKenzie described Mr Roberts-Smith as being the “Lance Armstrong” of the defence force.

The investigative journalist said the decision would offer some relief to victims in Afghanistan who also gave evidence.

“Ali Jan was a father, a husband,” he said. “He was kicked off a cliff by Ben Roberts-Smith, and was murdered with his participation.

“There is some small justice for him [and] for all the Afghan villagers who stood up in court.”

Masters said the outcome was a great relief for media.

“It’s a relief for the media, frankly, we know we’re so often on our knees,” he said.

“It often feels so hard to even do ordinary work, let alone work as difficult as this.”

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Whistleblower and former SAS medic Dusty Miller told 60 Minutes the defamation case was important, but criminal charges should follow.

“For those Afghan sons, fathers, those wives without husbands — that’s what it’s about now,” he said. “It’s the only way forward.”

— with NCA NewsWire

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