The barrister acting for decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has accused fellow soldiers of enormous jealousy and journalists of engaging in a poisonous campaign against him.
Bruce McClintock, SC, opened this morning in the Federal Court defamation case against the owner of Nine newspapers, Nine Entertainment Company.
Mr McClintock said the articles which alleged the killing of unarmed Afghans and bullying of SAS colleagues destroyed the Victoria Cross recipient s reputation.
Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney for the start of his defamation trial.(Getty) A man with a deservedly high reputation for courage, skill and decency, he said.
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Former special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith’s reputation was destroyed by a campaign fuelled by bitter and jealous soldiers who made allegations of war crimes to
The Age and
The Sydney Morning Herald, his barrister has alleged on the first day of his high-stakes defamation trial.
Sydney defamation barrister Bruce McClintock, SC, acting for Mr Roberts-Smith, told the Federal Court on Monday that the case was about “courage, devotion to duty [and] self-sacrifice”, on the one hand, and “dishonest journalism, corrosive jealousy and lies”, on the other.
Ben Roberts-Smith walking into Federal Court for his trial.
Credit:Edwina Pickles
A woman who once claimed Ben Roberts-Smith punched her in the face went to his wife after the alleged attack to say they had been having an affair.
The Federal Court in Sydney heard on Monday that the woman, known as Person 17, had not made any allegation of assault against Mr Roberts-Smith until after he ended their relationship.
Mr Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service trooper awarded the Victoria Cross, is suing The Sydney Morning Herald over a story claiming he punched the woman, when he contends she drunkenly fell down the stairs.
The decorated soldier is also suing the newspaper, along with The Age and the Canberra Times, over allegations he committed war crimes while on deployment in Afghanistan, which he vehemently denies.
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