Latest news with #Besanko
The Age
16-06-2025
- The Age
Ben Roberts-Smith's last-ditch bid to overturn war crimes decision
Australia's most decorated living soldier has launched a last-ditch bid to overturn damning findings that he committed war crimes while on deployment in Afghanistan. Former Special Air Service corporal Ben Roberts-Smith filed an application on Monday for special leave to appeal in the High Court after losing a court challenge to a Federal Court defamation decision that concluded he was complicit in the murder of four Afghan prisoners. Roberts-Smith has been locked in the defamation fight with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for eight years. In 2023, then-Federal Court justice Anthony Besanko dismissed his defamation case against the mastheads after he found to the civil standard – on the balance of probabilities – that Roberts-Smith was involved in the four murders between 2009 and 2012. The Full Court of the Federal Court upheld Besanko's decision on May 16. Federal Court Justices Nye Perram, Anna Katzmann and Geoffrey Kennett found the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support Besanko's findings that Roberts-Smith murdered four Afghan men, contrary to the rules of engagement that bound the SAS. 'The problem for [Roberts-Smith] is that, unlike most homicides, there were three eyewitnesses to this murder.' Full Court of the Federal Court At the centre of the case was an allegation that Roberts-Smith machine-gunned a man with a prosthetic leg outside a compound dubbed Whiskey 108 during a mission on Easter Sunday, 2009. 'The problem for [Roberts-Smith] is that, unlike most homicides, there were three eyewitnesses to this murder,' the court said.
Sydney Morning Herald
16-06-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Ben Roberts-Smith's last-ditch bid to overturn war crimes decision
Australia's most decorated living soldier has launched a last-ditch bid to overturn damning findings that he committed war crimes while on deployment in Afghanistan. Former Special Air Service corporal Ben Roberts-Smith filed an application on Monday for special leave to appeal in the High Court after losing a court challenge to a Federal Court defamation decision that concluded he was complicit in the murder of four Afghan prisoners. Roberts-Smith has been locked in the defamation fight with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for eight years. In 2023, then-Federal Court justice Anthony Besanko dismissed his defamation case against the mastheads after he found to the civil standard – on the balance of probabilities – that Roberts-Smith was involved in the four murders between 2009 and 2012. The Full Court of the Federal Court upheld Besanko's decision on May 16. Federal Court Justices Nye Perram, Anna Katzmann and Geoffrey Kennett found the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support Besanko's findings that Roberts-Smith murdered four Afghan men, contrary to the rules of engagement that bound the SAS. 'The problem for [Roberts-Smith] is that, unlike most homicides, there were three eyewitnesses to this murder.' Full Court of the Federal Court At the centre of the case was an allegation that Roberts-Smith machine-gunned a man with a prosthetic leg outside a compound dubbed Whiskey 108 during a mission on Easter Sunday, 2009. 'The problem for [Roberts-Smith] is that, unlike most homicides, there were three eyewitnesses to this murder,' the court said.
Sydney Morning Herald
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The Ben Roberts-Smith appeal, a judgment a year in the making
It is the judgment a year in the making. After a 10-day appeal hearing last year and a surprise bid this year to introduce fresh evidence in the form of a 'secret recording', Ben Roberts-Smith will find out on Friday if he has won his bid to overturn his devastating defamation loss. The former Special Air Service corporal claims Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko fell into legal error in a landmark decision in 2023 that dismissed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Besanko found Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four unarmed prisoners while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. The Victoria Cross recipient has always maintained his innocence. Besanko's decision was made to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities rather than the higher criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt. The appeal hearing ran for 10 days in February last year and the parties had been awaiting the decision for more than a year. The Full Court of the Federal Court will deliver its decision at 10.15am on Friday. Top silk Bret Walker, SC, acting for Roberts-Smith, told the appeal court last year that 'the heart of our case' was that 'weight is to be given to the presumption of innocence'. He said the evidence marshalled by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in defence of the lawsuit fell short of the 'exactness of proof' that was expected.
The Age
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
The Ben Roberts-Smith appeal, a judgment a year in the making
It is the judgment a year in the making. After a 10-day appeal hearing last year and a surprise bid this year to introduce fresh evidence in the form of a 'secret recording', Ben Roberts-Smith will find out on Friday if he has won his bid to overturn his devastating defamation loss. The former Special Air Service corporal claims Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko fell into legal error in a landmark decision in 2023 that dismissed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Besanko found Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four unarmed prisoners while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. The Victoria Cross recipient has always maintained his innocence. Besanko's decision was made to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities rather than the higher criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt. The appeal hearing ran for 10 days in February last year and the parties had been awaiting the decision for more than a year. The Full Court of the Federal Court will deliver its decision at 10.15am on Friday. Top silk Bret Walker, SC, acting for Roberts-Smith, told the appeal court last year that 'the heart of our case' was that 'weight is to be given to the presumption of innocence'. He said the evidence marshalled by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in defence of the lawsuit fell short of the 'exactness of proof' that was expected.
