Investigators probe Ben Roberts-Smith over more murders and video drinking from dead man's prosthetic limb

Sydney Morning Herald

21-05-2025

The secretive agency investigating war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith over multiple murders, including cases not canvassed in his marathon defamation trial, has secured the co-operation of new witnesses.
Amid the damning fresh evidence is footage of the disgraced ex-soldier swilling beer from the prosthetic leg of an Afghan man he executed.
Roberts-Smith's comprehensive loss before the full bench of the Federal Court – which affirmed the finding that the Special Air Service Regiment veteran ordered the murder of four Afghans – paves the way for the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) to move to prosecute the former corporal.
The OSI is examining suspected murders beyond the four cases that were part of the ex-soldier's failed bid to clear his name.
Five sources with knowledge of the OSI's ongoing four-year investigation said its investigators had secured co-operation from key witnesses who had not participated in Roberts-Smith's defamation trial.
The OSI is working closely with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions as it builds its case against Roberts-Smith, having collected statements from over a dozen SASR soldiers who claim Roberts-Smith arranged or participated in executions, including an incident in which he kicked a bound civilian off a small cliff.
The OSI has also uncovered a video of Roberts-Smith drinking from the prosthetic leg of a man he had earlier executed during an Easter Sunday 2009 operation targeting a compound called Whiskey 108.
The video was filmed in a makeshift bar called the Fat Lady's Arms at the Australian army base in southern Afghanistan and contradicts Roberts-Smith's evidence during his defamation trial when he told Justice Anthony Besanko he had never drunk from the plastic leg.