An elite soldier giving evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial has denied fuelling a "rumour mill" within the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) about the death of an Afghan man with a prosthetic leg.
Mr Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, is suing three newspapers after denying allegations of unlawful killings in Afghanistan, bullying and domestic violence published in 2018 articles.
One of the allegations involved an April 2009 mission at a Taliban compound dubbed "Whiskey 108", in which the war veteran is accused of shooting an Afghan man with a prosthetic leg.
An SAS witness called by publisher Nine Entertainment and codenamed Person 18 has told the Federal Court he was clearing a tunnel in the compound during that mission when he heard a burst of "roughly five rounds" of gunfire.
He claimed he turned to a colleague and waited for further reaction before continuing to examine the site.
Person 18 has likened the SAS to a "country wives club", where rumours are spread and expand "tenfold".
He's referred to the unit as "toxic" and an "alpha environment", with members constantly trying to outdo one another.
Under cross-examination from barrister Arthur Moses SC, Person 18 today agreed he heard rumours after the mission about the alleged murder of a man with a prosthetic leg.
He said the main rumour was more "a joke or a stab at the team" because they'd "engaged a person with one leg ... engaged a cripple essentially", which he said wasn't the case.
Mr Moses accused the witness of giving false evidence about hearing a burst of ammunition.
"That's just something you've decided to throw into the rumour mill, isn't it?" the barrister asked.
"No," Person 18 replied.
The witness admitted he'd drunk from the prosthetic leg multiple times after it was taken back to an unofficial soldiers' bar.
Mr Roberts-Smith has previously told the court a person he shot that day was a legitimately engaged, armed insurgent coming around the corner of the compound.
Person 18 has further claimed he overheard Mr Roberts-Smith and a colleague, Person 5, at the compound discussing whether a drone had been recording the mission.
Person 18 searched the body of the man with the prosthetic leg and said the "unique" incident later attracted discussion, but insisted he wasn't contributing to the "rumour mill".
"It's not a good feeling to be asked ... 'what was it like to pull someone's prosthetic leg off'," he said.
"I didn't really talk about it."
The court has heard in 2018, Person 18 received two threatening letters demanding he recant evidence to the long-running Brereton inquiry, which he agreed were the subject of further rumours after media reports about the incident.
He denied he talked to friends about being the recipient, rejecting a suggestion from Mr Moses he was "big-noting" himself.
During a legal argument in the absence of the witness, Mr Moses told the judge Person 18 was "a paid-up member of the so-called 'country wives club' that he referred to".
Decision to award VC 'misguided'
Person 18 gave the court an account of his role in the Battle of Tizak in 2010, for which Mr Roberts-Smith was awarded the VC.
He admitted it has been his opinion "for the last 12 years" that Mr Roberts-Smith did not deserve the award.
"The reason you expressed that view was that you were upset you hadn't received a medal," Mr Moses said.
"No, that's not correct," Person 18 replied.
The witness told the court that in late 2010, Mr Roberts-Smith asked him and four colleagues to come to speaking functions upon learning he was receiving the award.
"I said … I don't want to be in the limelight anymore, count me out," Person 18 said.
"[I said] the award and you asking me this is making me uncomfortable, I'm not interested."
Person 18 told the court once the operators returned to Australia, there were rumours about Tizak and questions of whether soldiers deserved awards, but he was unable to recall which colleagues were the source.
"You've heard the quote, haven't you, that rumours are carried by haters, spread by fools and accepted by idiots?" Mr Moses asked.
The barrister withdrew the question after an objection.
"Were you the one spreading the rumours?" Mr Moses asked.
"No," Person 18 replied.
"Were you the hater?" Mr Moses followed up.
"No … I don't hate Ben, I don't know the guy," Person 18 said.
Person 18 admitted he did not witness all of Mr Roberts-Smith's conduct during the Tizak mission, but told the court if rumours were "clouding" the awarding of the country's highest military honour, he believed the decision to be "misguided".
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, continues.
