Ben Roberts-Smith lost a defamation case he had been battling since 2018 (Picture: Getty; Reuters)
Australia’s most decorated war veteran has quit his job after a civil court blamed him for unlawfully killing four people while he served in Afghanistan.
Ben Roberts-Smith lost the landmark defamation case on Thursday against newspapers that accused him of war crimes.
It has led to calls for the 44-year-old to be stripped of his Victoria Cross medal.
Mr Roberts-Smith had taken leave from his state manager of Seven West Media job in 2021 to focus on the case financed by the company’s executive chair Kerry Stokes.
‘Ben has been on leave whilst the case was running and today has offered his resignation which we have accepted,’ chief executive James Warburton said on Friday in a staff email.
‘We thank Ben for his commitment to Seven and wish him all the best,’ Mr Warburton added.
Mr Roberts-Smith has been fighting the case since 2018 when Australian newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times accused him of killing six people in Afghanistan.
He argued five of the killings reported by the newspapers had occurred legally during combat, and the sixth did not happen at all.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II greeted Australian SAS Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith in 2011 (Picture: PA)
But the judge dismissed the case on Thursday because it was found the articles were substantially true.
Justice Anthony Besanko found him responsible for four out of the six unlawful deaths he was accused of.
These included a handcuffed farmer the soldier had kicked off a cliff – a fall which knocked out the man’s teeth, before he was shot dead.
A captured Taliban fighter who was shot at least 10 times in the back, before his prosthetic leg was taken as a trophy and later used by troops as a drinking vessel.
Two killings which were ordered or agreed to by Mr Roberts-Smith to initiate or ‘blood’ rookie soldiers.
It was found the newspapers had not proven two other murder allegations; nor reports Mr Roberts-Smith had assaulted a woman with whom he was having an affair; nor a threat against a junior colleague.
Ben Roberts-Smith seen departs the Federal Court of Australia in 2021 (Picture: Getty Images)
Allegations he unlawfully assaulted captives and bullied peers were found to be true.
Media lawyer Justin Quill said Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers would have been shocked by the extent of his loss.
‘Ultimately there is a judge’s finding that he committed four murders and that’s about as bad as you could possibly get,’ Mr Quill said.
‘I’d say even in his worst nightmares he didn’t expect yesterday to go quite as badly as that.’
Speaking outside the Federal Court in Sydney, the news outlets that exposed Mr Roberts-Smith called the judgement a ‘vindication’ for their reporting.
Journalists Chris Masters (C) and Nick McKenzie (R) give a statement outside the Federal Court, in Sydney (Picture: EPA)
‘It’s a day of justice for the brave men of the SAS who stood up and told the truth about who Ben Roberts-Smith is: a war criminal, a bully and a liar,’ said investigative reporter Nick McKenzie, who wrote the stories alongside Chris Masters and David Wroe.
‘[And] today is a day of some small justice for the Afghan victims of Ben Roberts-Smith.’
Mr Roberts-Smith remains under police investigation for criminal prosecution for war crimes.
He is the first person charged with war crimes from Australia’s 20-year campaign in the Middle East country.
The Australian government refused to comment on the case.
A Taliban spokesperson said the case was proof of ‘uncountable crimes’ by foreign forces in Afghanistan, but added they did not trust any court globally to follow them up.
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Minor Greens Party Senator David Shoebridge, said Mr Roberts-Smith should be stripped of his honours and the Australian War Memorial should remove memorabilia including portraits, medals and a uniform display.
‘At a minimum, we should be seeing action by the Australian War Memorial to remove the display that is now there for Ben Roberts-Smith. His uniform and his medals, which thousands of people will attend tomorrow to view and witness,’ Mr Shoebridge said.
‘The Australian War Memorial has an obligation to tell the whole truth about Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan,’ he added.
The civil court context could be added to the Roberts-Smith display, the memorial confirmed.
The whole case which lasted 110 days was rumoured to have cost up to A$25 million ($16.3 million, £13.2 million).
More than 40 witnesses – including Afghan villagers, a government minister and a string of current and former SAS soldiers – gave evidence.
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Calls have been made to strip Ben Roberts-Smith of his Victoria Cross medal.