D-Day looms in Ben Roberts-Smith appeal
Ben Roberts-Smith will learn on Friday whether he has been successful in his bid to overturn his multimillion-dollar defamation loss.
The former Special Air Service corporal has claimed Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko fell into legal error in a damning judgment that found he 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 and lodged an appeal.
The appeal hearing took place over 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 on Friday morning.
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Top silk Bret Walker, SC, acting for Roberts-Smith, has told the appeal court that 'the heart of our case' was that 'weight is to be given to the presumption of innocence'.
Walker 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.
But Nicholas Owens, SC, who was acting for the newspapers and is now a Federal Court judge, told the appeal court that the case was 'not like a detective novel' where there could be multiple explanations for the killings.
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