Ben Roberts-Smith denies killing Afghan civilians, in a case that's shone a light on elite soldier units.
BBC News, Sydney
He received Australia's highest military award - the Victoria Cross - for having single-handedly overpowered Taliban machine-gunners who had been attacking his Special Air Service platoon. According to the newspapers, these included a handcuffed farmer the soldier had kicked off a 10m cliff - a fall which knocked out the man's teeth, before he was subsequently shot dead.
"Not a single one of the murders we allege… involved decisions that were made in the heat of battle… the 'fog of war,'" said Nicholas Owens, a barrister for the newspapers. The journalists had "jumped on the rumours like salmon jumping on a hook", publishing them as fact, his team said, arguing that the trial evidence - once weighed - would exposed them as inconsistent, "fanciful" and "salacious".To support their claims, the newspapers called witnesses including Afghan villagers, a federal minister, and many former or serving elite soldiers.
Mr Roberts-Smith also watched on as his ex-wife Emma described the moment a woman with whom he'd had an extra-marital affair turned up at the family home, unannounced and nursing a black eye, saying she had become pregnant with his baby. Many giving evidence were there unwillingly, having been subpoenaed, and three refused to speak about some allegations fearing self-incrimination.
Soldiers serving under Australia's banner have almost certainly committed war crimes before, he says, but up until this year none had ever been charged.
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