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20-04-2026
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies
Warning: This story contains distressing content
CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: Beaming into a small Sydney courtroom on Friday via video link, Ben Roberts-Smith sat silently as he appeared on war crimes charges for the first time.
The country’s most-decorated living soldier was earlier this month charged with five counts of murder allegedly committed while the former Special Air Service (SAS) corporal was deployed to Afghanistan on Australia’s behalf.
Fresh court documents seen by media reveal in detail allegations that the 47-year-old murdered a disabled Afghan detainee, kicked a handcuffed prisoner off a cliff, ordered rookie soldiers execute others in an initiation practice called “blooding” and planted items on the alleged victims to cover-up misconduct.
Roberts-Smith vehemently denies the claims, which his lawyer says are “uncharted legal territory” for Australia, a country that has never held a war crimes trial for one of its own. So what are the allegations and what happens next?
‘Whiskey 108’ Compound, 12 April 2009
Roberts-Smith joined the Australian Defence Force (ADF) as a fresh-faced 18-year-old and did two tours in East Timor before joining the SAS in 2003.
By the time he was sent to a compound dubbed “Whiskey 108” on 12 April 2009, he had more than a decade of service and a Medal of Gallantry under his belt.
Australian troops had been battling Taliban insurgents at the site near Tarin Kowt, in central Afghanistan, and Roberts-Smith’s SAS crew were called in to clear it after an airstrike, the court documents state.
They discovered a tunnel from which they pulled and handcuffed two men identified by prosecutors as father and son, Mohammad Essa and Ahmadullah.
Ahmadullah, who wore a prosthetic leg, was allegedly carried by Roberts-Smith outside the wall of the compound, thrown to the ground, and shot multiple times using a belt-fed machine gun, the court documents say.
“That action was witnessed by several ADF members including those who were providing a protective cordon outside the compound,” the documents continue.
Back inside the compound, Roberts-Smith turned his attention to the senior Essa, the prosecutors’ submission continues.
Grabbing a trooper referred to as “The Rookie”, anonymized in the court documents as Person Four, Roberts-Smith borrowed a firearm suppressor from another man before placing the detainee on his knees.
“Shoot that (expletive),” the court documents allege he said to Person Four who understood it to be an order and complied.
“At the conclusion of the mission, both Roberts-Smith and his patrol leader claimed that they had ‘blooded the Rookie’,” the court documents said.
Darwan Village, 11 September 2012
In late August 2012, an Afghan National Army soldier working with Australian soldiers turned on them, killing three and injuring two others, sparking a massive manhunt. The search for Sergeant Hekmatullah became the highest priority for the ADF. Roberts-Smith who the year before had been awarded the Commonwealth’s highest military honor, the Victoria Cross went looking for him in a village called Darwan two weeks later. Arriving by helicopter on 11 September, his team searched a series of compounds near a dry creek bed, capturing three detainees, the court documents say. One of them was a man called Ali Jan.
The prisoners were “tactically questioned” by Roberts-Smith, prosecutors allege, which involved him punching and physically assaulting the handcuffed men.
