Ben Roberts-Smith takes appeal to Federal Court
Ben Roberts-Smith has launched his appeal aiming to overturn damning findings made against him after he sued The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times over reports he is a war criminal (AFR).
The appeal is being heard over 10 days by a full Federal Court, with Roberts-Smith’s lawyers aiming to convince the justices that the trial judge made a mistake when he found the former soldier was complicit in the murder of four Afghan men (The Saturday Paper).
Roberts-Smith is arguing that he was entitled to a presumption of innocence and that when allegations are particularly grave, the court must be cautious in making findings.
The trial judge ruled that on the balance of probabilities, Roberts-Smith was involved in four unlawful murders in Afghanistan.
His lawyers claimed in court on Monday that the trial judge’s finding that Roberts-Smith was involved in the killing of two unarmed prisoners was speculation and in contradiction to an official military document (The Guardian).
