On 7 April 2026, Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested by the Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport and subsequently charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.The arrest marks a dramatic turning point in one of Australia’s most high-profile legal sagas one that has already cost tens of millions of dollars, destroyed a decorated military reputation, and raised deeply uncomfortable questions about what happened in Afghanistan.
Background: Who Is Ben Roberts-Smith?
Benjamin Roberts-Smith, born 1 November 1978 in Perth, Western Australia, is a former soldier in the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). He is one of Australia’s most highly decorated soldiers, having received the Medal for Gallantry in 2006, the Victoria Cross in 2011 the highest award for gallantry in battle and a Commendation for Distinguished Service in 2012.He was widely regarded as a national hero. His fall from grace, however, has been steep, public, and irreversible.
Roberts-Smith met his former wife, Emma Groom, in 1998 at an army ball in Sydney. They married on 6 December 2003 at the University of Western Australia. Their twin daughters were born in 2010.Emma Roberts-Smith, now known publicly as Emma Groom, became a central figure in the defamation trial after it was alleged that journalist Nick McKenzie had used her as a source regarding her former husband’s legal strategy.
What Did Ben Roberts-Smith Actually Do?
The allegations against Roberts-Smith centre on his conduct during deployments in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Reporters for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Canberra Times and The Age had alleged, in 2018, that Roberts-Smith, a patrol commander with the Australian Special Air Service Regiment, was a war criminal. They maintained he had murdered unarmed Afghan prisoners and civilians and bullied fellow soldiers.
Besanko also found that Roberts-Smith had ordered or agreed to two murders to blood inexperienced soldiers. In addition to these killings, the court found that he had assaulted captives and bullied fellow soldiers.
Roberts-Smith consistently denied all wrongdoing. He launched defamation proceedings claiming the press reports were false and had destroyed his reputation.
The Defamation Case: A 110-Day Trial
His lawsuit set the stage for an unprecedented courtroom battle that would reveal the hidden world of Australia’s special forces. The civil trial stretched across 110 days, involving more than 40 witnesses, including Afghan villagers, a former government minister, and numerous current and former SAS soldiers. Some soldiers described a “code of silence” within the regiment, where misconduct was rarely reported.
On 1 June 2023, Justice Besanko dismissed Roberts-Smith’s defamation claims and found the core allegations made by the media outlets to be substantially true that, on the balance of probabilities, it was more likely than not that Roberts-Smith had unlawfully killed or was involved in the unlawful killing of unarmed Afghan men during his deployment.
The ruling was historic. It was the first time an Australian court had assessed allegations of war crimes committed by the nation’s soldiers.
The Ben Roberts-Smith Press Conference and Vow to Fight On
Following the 2023 judgment, Roberts-Smith addressed the media and vowed to appeal. Roberts-Smith has consistently denied all wrongdoing and appealed the judgment in early 2024. His legal team, led by Arthur Moses SC and Bret Walker SC, presented a sweeping challenge to Justice Besanko’s findings. They argued the judge had made a series of legal and factual errors, from failing to properly weigh witness credibility to delivering insufficient reasons for key conclusions.
His legal team also mounted a dramatic late attempt to reopen the case. In a dramatic twist late in the appeal process, Roberts-Smith’s legal team made an eleventh-hour attempt to reopen the case based on a secret recording. The recording, emailed anonymously to the legal team, captured a 2021 conversation between The Age journalist Nick McKenzie and a potential witness.
The appeal court rejected it. Judges expressed doubts about the integrity of the recording.
Has Ben Roberts-Smith Appealed?
Yes and he lost at every stage.
Roberts-Smith lost his appeal against Besanko’s ruling on 16 May 2025. The Full Court of the Federal Court unanimously found that he was not defamed when Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters published reports alleging he had committed war crimes in Afghanistan. The court stated they were “unanimously of the opinion that the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support the findings” of murder, and ordered Roberts-Smith to pay the respondents’ legal costs.
On 4 September 2025, the High Court refused his application for leave to appeal and ordered that he pay costs. The Australian War Memorial subsequently updated its wording of his display, stating that he has exhausted all legal avenues to challenge the defamation judgment.
Legal costs are estimated to have totalled $30 million for the initial trial and $4 million for the appeal.
After exhausting civil legal options, criminal charges followed swiftly.
Roberts-Smith was charged under section 268.70(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 with five counts of the war crime of murder three charges of aid, abet, counsel, or procure an offence, one charge of actual offence and one charge of joint commission of an offence with a potential maximum sentence of life imprisonment. He was remanded to the Silverwater Correctional Complex. A bail review hearing was set for 17 April and a status mention hearing was scheduled for 4 June.
On 16 April it was reported that Roberts-Smith was seeking public funding for his criminal defence.
Oliver Schulz: The Other Australian War Crimes Case
Roberts-Smith is not the only Australian soldier facing criminal charges for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
In 2023, Oliver Schulz was arrested and charged with the killing of an Afghan civilian. Evidence of this accusation was first made public in 2020. He pleaded not guilty and his case goes to trial next year. Though Australia has prosecuted alleged war criminals of foreign nationals in the past, Schulz and Roberts-Smith are the only two Australians to have been both arrested and charged.
The parallel cases have placed enormous pressure on Australian institutions to demonstrate accountability within the military.
Roberts-Smith and Emma Groom’s twin daughters were born in 2010. On retirement from the army in 2015, Roberts-Smith moved to Queensland with his wife and daughters.His daughters are now teenagers, and his arrest has cast a painful shadow over his family life particularly given his earlier public image as a devoted father. He was named Australian Father of the Year following his discharge from the army in 2013.
His divorce from Emma was finalised in December 2020, following the discovery of an affair.The Ben Roberts-Smith case has had consequences far beyond one man’s reputation. It has triggered a national reckoning with how Australia trains, deploys, and holds accountable its special forces soldiers.
Investigating war crimes is challenging work at the best of times. In Roberts-Smith’s case, the Office of the Special Investigator’s director of investigations said the political situation in Afghanistan has made the work even harder.
The case has also exposed deep divisions within the veterans’ community, with some defending Roberts-Smith and others demanding accountability for alleged crimes that reportedly occurred in a culture of silence.
Conclusion: What Happens Next?
Ben Roberts-Smith remains in custody as of mid-April 2026. A bail hearing is set for 17 April, followed by a status hearing in June. His criminal trial if it proceeds will be the most consequential war crimes prosecution in Australian history.
Due to the seriousness of the alleged crimes, Roberts-Smith will most likely be tried in a state supreme court, as is the case with Oliver Schulz. Procedurally, the trial will unfold like any other criminal trial, though the crimes are international and entwined with Australia’s membership of the International Criminal Court.
The nation watches closely. Whatever the verdict, the Roberts-Smith saga has already permanently altered how Australians think about military heroism, accountability, and the cost of war.
FAQs
Has Ben Roberts-Smith appealed?
Yes. Roberts-Smith appealed the original 2023 defamation ruling to the Full Federal Court, which dismissed the appeal in May 2025. He then sought special leave to appeal to the High Court, which also refused his application in September 2025. He has exhausted all civil legal avenues.
How much does a 30-second TV ad cost in Australia?
The cost of a 30-second television advertisement in Australia varies widely depending on the channel, time slot, and audience size. On major free-to-air networks, a prime-time 30-second slot can cost anywhere between AUD $10,000 to over AUD $100,000. National campaigns during high-rating events such as the AFL Grand Final can exceed AUD $200,000 per slot.
What is the largest defamation lawsuit ever?
Among the largest defamation awards in U.S. history, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay approximately $1 billion in actual damages to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting, with a judge later adding $473 million in punitive damages, bringing the total to just under $1.5 billion.In Australia, the Roberts-Smith defamation case is estimated to have cost over AUD $34 million in total legal costs alone one of the most expensive defamation battles in the country’s history.
