01:55 EDT, 4 June 2021
Ben Roberts-Smith has sensationally taken legal action against his ex-wife Emma, accusing her of potentially hacking into his email account ahead of his defamation trial of the century against Nine.
The reason behind the former Special Air Service trooper s sudden lawsuit against Ms Roberts was revealed in the Federal Court on Friday by one of his barristers, Arthur Moses SC.
Mr Moses told the court that evidence showed Ms Roberts had access to an email account used by Mr Roberts-Smith to speak with his lawyers about an inquiry into Army conduct in the Afghanistan war.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine over newspaper articles alleging he committed war crimes while deployed in Afghanistan - which he vehemently denies.
Ben Roberts-Smith's marathon defamation trial is about to begin and the stakes are not only high for Australia's most decorated Afghanistan veteran the entire Defence Department's reputation is on the line.
Ben Roberts-Smith sues ex-wife ahead of defamation trial
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Ben Roberts-Smith has followed through on a threat to sue his ex-wife who is set to testify against him in his defamation case against
The Sydney Morning Herald and
The Age.
In April, the Victoria Cross recipient threatened to potentially undo a property settlement if his former wife breached a confidentiality agreement in giving evidence against him in a major defamation trial against Nine.
Ben Roberts-Smith launched a defamation action against Fairfax Media in 2018.Â
Darrian Traynor
The latest case is listed for a hearing before Federal Court Judge Robert Bromwich at 2.15pm on Friday.
Special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith is suing his ex-wife, claiming that she leaked photos of him drinking out of a prosthetic leg that allegedly belonged to a dead Afghan man.