Australia’s most decorated living soldier once charged headfirst into enemy fire in Afghanistan, earning the nation’s highest military honour for extraordinary bravery.
Now, years later, Ben Roberts-Smith is behind bars, accused of committing some of the most serious war crimes imaginable.
Long before his arrest, Roberts-Smith was hailed as a national hero for his actions during a deadly mission in Afghanistan on June 11, 2010.
His patrol was inserted by helicopter into the village of Tizak to capture or kill a senior Taliban commander, but immediately came under heavy machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire.
Two soldiers were wounded as enemy fighters, positioned on elevated and fortified ground, pinned the patrol down.
According to an Australian War Memorial account, Roberts-Smith exposed himself to enemy fire in a bid to draw attention away from his teammates.
Advancing to within metres of enemy positions under intense fire, he engaged insurgents at close range, killing one at point-blank distance after spotting the man armed with a grenade.
With what his Victoria Cross citation described as ‘total disregard for his own safety’, he then stormed fortified enemy positions armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, killing multiple insurgents.
Former special forces operative Ben Roberts-Smith took out multiple Taliban enemies with close range combat tactics
Roberts-Smith, who spent Tuesday night in custody, is accused of murdering unarmed civilians while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012
His actions allowed his patrol to regain the initiative and ultimately clear the village.
‘For the most conspicuous gallantry in action in circumstances of extreme peril,’ the citation reads.
‘His acts of selfless valour directly enabled his troop to go on and clear the village… against a numerically superior enemy force.’
After being awarded the Victoria Cross in 2011, Ben Roberts-Smith was at the peak of his public life.
He left the army in 2013, secured a University of Queensland MBA scholarship, and was awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service the following year. His public profile soared.
He went on to chair the National Australia Day Council, was named Australian Father of the Year in 2013, and became deputy chair of Tony Abbott’s mental health advisory committee in 2014.
In April 2015, Kerry Stokes appointed him deputy general manager of regional television for Seven Queensland, and two months later he was promoted to general manager.
The decorated veteran’s courtroom troubles began in 2018, when he launched an unsuccessful defamation case against Nine newspapers over a series of explosive reports about alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith was taken into custody by Australian Federal Police officers at Sydney Domestic Airport on Tuesday morning
In a Federal Court ruling, Justice Anthony Besanko found that several of the allegations were substantially true on the balance of probabilities, rather than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
The articles, published in 2018, detailed claims Roberts-Smith has consistently denied.
Years later, Roberts-Smith is now behind bars after being arrested on the tarmac at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning in front of his daughters, following an extensive investigation into whether he murdered Afghans while deployed between 2009 and 2012.
He was charged with two counts of the war crime of murder and three counts of aiding or abetting the same offence.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in the war zone.
‘It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed,’ she told reporters.
‘It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of and acting on the orders of the accused.’
The allegations include Roberts-Smith intentionally causing the death of two people in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Asked if others were involved in those matters, the Office of the Special Investigator said investigations were ongoing.
He did not appear at a brief online NSW Bail Division Court hearing on Wednesday, when his case was first heard, and his lawyers did not make an immediate application for his release.
They tried instead to have the matter listed for an in-person hearing at the city-centre Downing Centre Local Court later in the day but conceded that might not be possible.
‘We understand that’s a bit of a pipe dream,’ his lawyer Jordan Portokalli told the bail court.
The judge agreed and re-listed the matter for June 4, meaning the Victoria Cross recipient will remain in custody for at least two months.
Roberts-Smith has consistently denied the allegations.
