Australia’s most decorated living soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has declared he never murdered anyone during his military service and regrets his decision to remain silent throughout years of legal proceedings which destroyed his reputation.
The 47-year-old Victoria Cross recipient has opened up about the devastating impact of war crimes allegations on his family in an extraordinary two-and-a-half-hour interview with 2GB broadcaster Ben Fordham.
Mr Roberts-Smith, who was arrested in April and charged with five counts of the war crime of murder, emphatically rejected allegations that he killed or ordered the killings of unarmed Afghan detainees between 2009 and 2012.
“I didn’t bloody murder anyone,” he said.
Asked directly whether he had shot prisoners, Roberts-Smith replied: “No.”
“Did you see anyone else shooting prisoners?” Fordham pressed.
“No,” Mr Roberts-Smith responded.
The former SAS soldier also rejected allegations he drank beer from the prosthetic leg of an Afghan man killed during a military operation in 2009.
“I didn’t drink out of it, which is just the truth. I did not and that’s for personal reasons,” he said.
“The dark humour that . . . military organisations rely upon to maintain their sanity will sometimes be misconstrued.”
During the interview, conducted in Queensland on October 8 and released on Thursday, Mr Roberts-Smith also revealed why he had decided to speak publicly after years of silence.
He said he had deliberately avoided media interviews throughout his high-profile defamation battle against Nine newspapers because he believed the allegations were false and trusted the legal process.
That decision, he claimed, had ultimately worked to his detriment.
“I spent over four years getting absolutely decimated in the press with all kinds of narratives, many of them false, and it most certainly shaped public opinion in a negative way,” he said.
Mr Roberts-Smith acknowledged that his bail conditions and ongoing criminal proceedings restricted what he could say about the allegations.
“I’m not able to speak about the allegations specifically,” he said.
“I’m not able to talk about the proceedings.
“There’s also considerations for me around my bail and I have to be very careful that I’m not going to breach any of those conditions, which I won’t.”
He said he instead wanted to explain the circumstances confronting his family and raise “legitimate” questions about how the legal process had unfolded.
“This is not me trying to convince anyone of anything,” he said.
“I literally just want to put a couple of facts on the table, if I can, and people can make their own minds up.”
Mr Roberts-Smith also spoke about the emotional toll on his twin teenage daughters, his partner Sarah and his parents, Sue and Len.
He said his daughters had been forced to hear their father described publicly as a bully, liar and murderer, but insisted they knew his true character.
“They know their dad,” he said.
“We have a very, very close relationship, and those girls know me and who I am as a person and what my values are.”
Mr Roberts-Smith also acknowledged the support of his “rock solid” partner Sarah Matulin.
“You’ve got a person that has never experienced the good times,” he said.
“You know, when the media wanted to pump me up after I got my award, and I’m fortunate enough to travel to London and have audience with Her Majesty. You know, invited to all the events and the sporting things.
“She has never seen any of that because it has only been since the allegations were made that we met.”
Mr Roberts-Smith revealed one of the things that initially attracted him to Ms Matulin.
“One of the reasons I gravitated towards her was that she didn’t even know who I was,” he said.
“So I thought when she finds out, maybe she actually won’t want to hang around.”
He also praised his partner’s strength.
“She never gets flustered about this stuff. She’s always got my back, no matter how bad it gets,” he said.
“She’ll be telling me ‘it’s going to be okay’. Yeah, I’ve heard her say that 1000 times in our relationship.
“Mate, the difference that makes is probably one of the most important parts of me being able to keep going.”
Mr Roberts-Smith said his parents, including his father, former Western Australian Supreme Court judge and Army major general Len Roberts-Smith, had dedicated themselves to supporting his legal battles.
“I feel guilty about taking away this time in their life where they’re supposed to be retired, enjoying each other’s company, enjoying retirement because they’re both dedicated to this fight with me,” he said.
“They don’t stop, and they’re not going to stop.
“That weighs pretty heavily on them.”
Mr Roberts-Smith faces allegations arising from three separate military operations in Afghanistan.
The prosecution alleges he machine-gunned an Afghan prisoner, Mohammed Essa, and ordered the execution of another detainee, Ahmadullah, during a raid in April 2009.
He is also accused of kicking a handcuffed man, Ali Jan, off a cliff in the village of Darwan in August 2012 before ordering him to be shot.
Two further alleged murders occurred during a mission at Syahchow in October 2012.
In 2023, Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko found, on the balance of probabilities, that Mr Roberts-Smith was responsible for several unlawful killings, following his unsuccessful defamation proceedings against Nine newspapers.
Those findings were made under the civil standard of proof which is lower than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied wrongdoing and is yet to stand trial on the criminal charges.
Despite everything that has happened since his military career ended, Mr Roberts-Smith insisted he had no regrets about enlisting.
“I can say, actually, hand on my heart, I don’t regret a single thing,” he said.
“I am so proud of the fact that I served my country. I loved being a soldier.”