A soldier who fought alongside Ben Roberts-Smith at the battle of Tizak, for which Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross, has told the Australian Federal Court in an ongoing trial that he killed one of the Taliban machine gunners credited to Roberts-Smith on his medal citation.
During a dramatic and at times emotional three days in the witness box, the decorated former sergeant of Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment, known before the court as Person 4, said he still believed Roberts-Smith was a deserving recipient of the Australian military’s highest honor.
He said that he had “loved him like a brother” and was “reluctant” to give evidence in the trial brought by his former comrade.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Compelled by a subpoena to give evidence for newspapers defending Roberts-Smith’s defamation claim this week, Person 4 told the court that he saw Roberts-Smith kick an unarmed, handcuffed Afghan civilian off a cliff before ordering the badly injured man be dragged underneath a tree where he was shot dead.
Person 4 told the court he had seen Roberts-Smith kick the man in the chest, “catapulting him” off the cliff.
After the Australian soldiers walked down a foot track to the bottom of the cliff, Roberts-Smith ordered him and another subordinate soldier to drag the man under a tree, where he was shot by the other soldier after discussion with Roberts-Smith, he said.
Roberts-Smith has previously told the court this version of events could not have happened because there was no cliff and the man was an enemy spotter, lawfully killed after he was encountered hiding in a field.
Roberts-Smith is suing the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times over reports he alleges are defamatory and portray him as committing war crimes, including murder, as well as acts of bullying and domestic violence.
The newspapers are pleading a defense of truth.
Roberts-Smith denies any wrongdoing.
Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for “most conspicuous gallantry” during a battle at Tizak, in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province, on June 11, 2006.
The court heard, in extraordinary detail, Person 4’s account of fighting side-by-side with Roberts-Smith at Tizak, pinned down by relentless machine gun fire.
“I remember a large sustained machine gun burst tearing up the ground between myself and Ben Roberts-Smith,” he said. “I had an absolute feeling of dread and fear due to the amount of fire we were receiving. Not only accurate fire, but sustained, effective fire.”
The court heard that after a first grenade thrown by Roberts-Smith failed to detonate, a second grenade thrown by a third soldier gave Roberts-Smith, supported by Person 4, a chance to storm machine-gun posts.
Roberts-Smith’s official medal citation says: “Roberts-Smith, with a total disregard for his own safety, stormed the enemy position killing the two remaining machine gunners.”
Person 4 told the court that he and Roberts-Smith, in subsequent discussions in Australia, agreed that Person 4 had killed the first machine gunner with his fire.
“I 100 percent believe I had shot one of the machine gunners when I was providing cover for RS [Roberts-Smith],” he said.
Person 4 said the awarding of medals was “for others to determine” and not his motivation for fighting.
“That action, for me, was the highlight of my professional career purely because I didn’t let them down,” he said. “We both supported each other. We overcame overwhelming odds together.”
Within days of the battle of Tizak, Person 4 said he was told he would be awarded the Victoria Cross.
In subsequent days, the story from comrades in Australia changed to Roberts-Smith would be awarded the medal instead.
Roberts-Smith was invested with the Victoria Cross in January 2011.
It was not until 2013 — two years later — that Person 4 was ultimately awarded the Medal for Gallantry, a lesser decoration, for the same action.
In court, Person 4 agreed he had been “hurt” at not receiving the same level of recognition, not for himself, but for his family.
“I had two children at the time of that action,” he said. “It was for them.”
“I was upset that something as outstanding as what both Ben Roberts-Smith and myself did was politicized,” he told the court. “They could have accepted the fact both of us did as much as each other that day.”
Arthur Moses, a lawyer for Roberts-Smith, put it to Person 4 that he was resentful of Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross and subsequent success.
“I loved him as a brother. There’s no resentment there,” Person 4 replied.
“Now you hate him don’t you?” Moses asked.
“Of course I don’t hate him. Believe me, I’m not jealous of him,” Person 4 replied.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese