The defamation case will be decided on the civil standard of proof, the balance of probabilities.

Throughout the proceedings, men who once served together gave contradictory evidence about what unfolded during missions.īarrister Nicholas Owens SC, for Nine, said there were irreconcilable accounts and, in the trial's final days, succinctly stated the dilemma facing the judge: 'Someone is lying.' Nine called nearly 20 SAS witnesses as it sought to establish a truth defence, while Mr Roberts-Smith's team called more than a dozen SAS witnesses. Public accusations of murder were devastating and heartbreaking, he told the court.Īrthur Moses SC says bitter and jealous colleagues have tried to tarnish his client's reputation. 'I did everything I could to ensure I did it with honour,' Mr Roberts-Smith said, denying he ever broke the rules of engagement. He said he spent his life fighting for his country. Mr Roberts-Smith entered the witness box over several days, where he was cross-examined and scrutinised by publisher Nine Entertainment's legal team. Ten months later, Justice Anthony Besanko is today poised to deliver what is likely to become one of the most significant and studied defamation judgements the court has produced.Īccording to the veteran's lawyers, the purpose of the case was clear: the vindication of his reputation. It involved former and current elite soldiers - ordinarily men whose professional lives and identities are necessarily kept secret - stepping into the witness box to provide detailed accounts of missions in Afghanistan.

The trial spanned more than 100 days of hearings across some 13 months, and was unlike any previous defamation case seen in an Australian court. Those stories contained allegations of unlawful killings while on deployment with the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) in Afghanistan, bullying of his former comrades and domestic violence against a woman in Canberra, all of which Mr Roberts-Smith denied. The Victoria Cross recipient sued the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times and three journalists in the Federal Court over a series of articles published in 2018.

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