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After more than a week behind bars, Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith, facing serious allegations of war crimes, has made a court appearance via video link as he seeks bail. The 47-year-old, a former member of the SAS, was dramatically arrested on April 7, charged with the murder of five unarmed Afghan civilians during his deployment between 2009 and 2012.
Roberts-Smith, who remains in custody, appeared from prison during the hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, appealing for his release on bail. As Australia’s most decorated living soldier, he is accused of personally killing two Afghan nationals and playing a role in the deaths of three others by aiding, abetting, or procuring their murders.
Court documents detail allegations from an incident in April 2009, in Kakarak, Uruzgan Province, where Roberts-Smith reportedly instructed another soldier, identified only as Person 4, to kill Mohammed Essa. The case continues to unfold, drawing significant attention due to the gravity of the charges and Roberts-Smith’s once-esteemed military reputation.
Australia’s most decorated living soldier is accused of directly murdering two Afghan individuals and aiding, abetting or procuring the murder of three more.
At Kakarak in Uruzgan Province in April 2009, Roberts-Smith allegedly ordered another soldier, only known as Person 4, to kill Mohammed Essa, court documents reveal.
He also allegedly murdered another unarmed civilian, Ahmadullah, during that same raid.
Roberts-Smith allegedly ordered the murder of another man, Ali Jan, during a raid on the village of Darwan, also in Uruzgan Province, in September 2012.
The remaining two charges relate to incidents in Syahchow, Uruzgan.
There, Roberts-Smith is accused of jointly murdering an unnamed Afghan prisoner with another soldier, only known as Person 68, and ordering the execution of another.
Court documents reveal both deceased men were listed as enemies killed in action.
War crime allegations against Roberts-Smith were first exposed by the now Nine-owned Fairfax Media in 2018.
The war veteran sued the paper for defamation in the Federal Court but suffered a crushing defeat with a judge finding the accusations of murder were, on the balance of probabilities, true.
He failed to overturn these findings on appeal to the full Federal Court and the High Court.
The move from a civil case to criminal charges means prosecutors have to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt for a guilty verdict to be handed down.
Roberts-Smith is the second former SAS soldier facing the courts on war crime charges.
Oliver Schultz was charged in 2023 with the war crime of murder of a young man Dad Mohammad in a wheat field in Uruzgan Province in 2012.
Both war crime accused have maintained their innocence.
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