A former elite soldier has told a Sydney court he won a fancy dress competition at an unofficial soldier bar in Afghanistan by dressing up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The ex-Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) member, codenamed Person 35, was called as a witness by Ben Roberts-Smith's legal team in the war veteran's defamation case against three newspapers.
He was today asked about a 2012 party at The Fat Ladies Arms bar in Tarin Kowt and told the Federal Court he chose to attend as a Klansman in part because he didn't want to pay for a costume.
"Why did you think it was funny?" Mr Roberts-Smith's barrister, Arthur Moses SC, asked.
"Just a parody ... just for a laugh," the witness replied.
"(To) make fun of the actual Klan itself. They're pretty pathetic and I was just making a joke of it."
Mr Moses asked if the ex-soldier was reprimanded.
"No, I was not, I actually won the fancy dress competition," he replied.
Person 35 also agreed in court he drew pictures of winged genitalia on boards in his accommodation in Afghanistan, as a "parody" of the winged dagger symbol, on several occasions.
"From time to time I'd just draw an amusing picture, just for a laugh and to have a joke," he said.
"(It) become my trademark art."
Person 35 has this week given evidence supporting Mr Roberts-Smith's account of an April 2009 mission at a Taliban compound nicknamed "Whiskey 108", where publisher Nine Entertainment alleges two unlawful killings took place.
Previous witnesses for the newspapers have claimed they saw two men surrender from a secret tunnel in the compound, who were then taken prisoner and allegedly executed, however both Mr Roberts-Smith and Person 35 claim there were no men in the tunnel.
Under cross-examination by Nine's barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, Person 35 admitted he was an active social media user and had "liked" Instagram posts providing commentary of the defamation case.
Mr Owens read out the expletive-laden content of some of the posts and suggested they reflected the witness's view that it was destructive to question what people like Mr Roberts-Smith did in Afghanistan.
"If you're going to question a soldier about what happened overseas, you need to question the military about what happened first," Person 35 said.
Mr Owens said the witness had "liked" numerous posts describing Nine's witnesses as "rats and snitches" and Person 35 said he believed the newspaper's witnesses were lying.
He repeatedly told the judge he came to court to tell the truth and rejected suggestions he was an "utterly partisan witness".
"That's incorrect, Mr Owens," Person 35 replied.
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, continues.
