After years of fighting in Afghanistan, Australia’s elite SAS regiment was a “toxic” environment riven by internecine fighting over decorations and medals, a serving SAS soldier has told the federal court.
“The SASR is like a country wives’ club,” the soldier said under cross-examination on Monday, “rumours are spread, and they just get bigger and bigger and bigger”.
The federal court is part way through a multimillion-dollar defamation trial brought by former SAS soldier, and Victoria Cross recipient, Ben Roberts-Smith.
Roberts-Smith is suing the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times for defamation over a series of reports he alleges portray him as committing war crimes, including murder.
The newspapers are pleading a defence of truth. Roberts-Smith denies all wrongdoing.
The still-serving SAS soldier, who served alongside Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan, has been subpoenaed to give evidence by the newspapers.
The soldier, anonymised before the court as Person 18, gave evidence that another soldier, Person 4, broke down in tears on multiple separate occasions, recounting how he had seen Roberts-Smith kick an unarmed, handcuffed Afghan man off a cliff. In his evidence last week. Person 4 told the court Roberts-Smith then ordered the badly injured man to be dragged under a tree, where he was shot dead by another Australian soldier under Robert-Smith’s command.
The alleged murder, during a September 2012 SAS raid on a village called Darwan in Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan province, is one of the key allegations pleaded by the newspapers in their defence to Robert-Smith’s claim. Person 4 has previously told the court the allegation was reported to officers within the SAS in 2013 but no action was taken.
Roberts-Smith has denied ever kicking anybody off a cliff.
In his evidence before the court last year, Roberts-Smith said the alleged version of events in Darwan could not have happened because “there was no cliff … there was no kick”, and that the slain man was an enemy “spotter” who was discovered hiding in a cornfield carrying a radio, and was lawfully killed within the military’s rules of engagement.
Person 18 said in the aftermath of repeated deployments to Afghanistan, the regiment was factionalised and riven by petty feuds and jealousies.
“It has been a very toxic environment. Any rumour is expanded tenfold.”
“It’s a very alpha environment where people are constantly trying to outdo each other or push each other … so when there’s an error, a mistake, it’s magnified.”
He told the court some members were obsessive about what had happened in Afghanistan and what they believed to be their rightful recognition.
“I had daily phone calls from Ben [Roberts-Smith], complaining about [another soldier] Person 5, and that they were potentially going to receive the same award.”
Person 18 said, “pretty much every conversation I had with someone at work had something to do with Afghanistan, and I was tired of the conversation”.
“The only connection I had to a lot of my peers was our time in Afghanistan. We weren’t actually friends, we just worked together.”
There was particular controversy within the SAS over rumours alleging Roberts-Smith did not deserve his Victoria Cross, awarded after the 2010 Battle of Tizak, a 13-hour combat operation against an established Taliban stronghold, ultimately won by the Australian forces, the court heard.
“The entire SASR has heard that [rumour] at some point I’m sure … it’s been a common rumour for the last 12 years,” Person 18 said.
Person 5 is slated to be called to give evidence by lawyers, for Roberts-Smith, later in this trial.
Person 18 has also given evidence he received two threatening letters from an anonymous self-described “friend of the regiment” warning him to recant his testimony to an inquiry led by the inspector general of the Australian Defence Force into allegations of war crimes committed by Australian troops.
The court was told the letters arrived at the SAS barracks in Perth threatening him that he had “spread lies” and must withdraw his evidence, or he would “go down”.
The newspapers have alleged during this trial that Roberts-Smith was the author of the letters, claiming he wore gloves to prepare and print off the documents at the offices of Channel Seven, bought stamps from a number of different shops and instructed a private investigator to address and mail the sealed envelopes he had placed them in.
The court has also heard evidence from Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife, Emma Roberts, that she confronted Roberts-Smith over the letters when their contents were publicly reported, and that Roberts-Smith admitted to her that he had written them. John McLeod, a former policeman, has also told the court he was given four sealed envelopes by Roberts-Smith and asked to post two to Person 18, which he did without knowing their contents. He says he gave the other two letters to his lawyer, who later gave them to police.
In his evidence last year, Roberts-Smith rejected his ex-wife’s and McLeod’s versions of events. He denied any involvement in the letters and said the conversation with his wife never occurred.
Person 18 remains in the witness box. The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, continues.
