Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s decorated war hero and Victoria Cross recipient, has lost his high profile defamation case against three Australian newspapers following a Federal Court judgment that found him guilty of war crimes.
Roberts-Smith claimed that The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times, published a series of defamatory articles that wrongly accused him of committing war crimes in Afghanistan, for bullying Special Air Services (SAS) soldiers, and for assaulting his mistress.
The June 1 judgment passed by Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko comes after 110 days of court hearings, 41 witnesses, and more than $25 million in legal fees.
Roberts-Smith was not in court to hear the judgment….