Roberts-Smith is suingThe Age,The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Canberra Times for defamation over a series of articles in 2018 that he says portray him as a war criminal who was involved in the unlawful killing of Afghan prisoners.
The newspapers are seeking to rely on a defence of truth and allege Roberts-Smith was involved in six unlawful killings of Afghan prisoners including two during the 2009 mission. Under the rules of engagement that bound the SAS,prisoners could not be killed.
SAS witnesses called by the media outlets have given evidence that two Afghan men were discovered during the 2009 mission in a tunnel at a compound dubbed Whiskey 108.
But Roberts-Smith has told the court that no men were found in the tunnel,and that two men,including a man with a prosthetic leg,were discovered outside the compound and killed lawfully in the heat of battle.
Giving evidence on Monday,Person 27 said he was not made aware during the mission that any tunnel had been discovered,and did not see a tunnel entrance. He said the first he heard of an allegation that two men came out of a tunnel at Whiskey 108 was in 2017,but admitted later in his evidence that he heard a rumour earlier than that date that two people behind a trap door or in a tunnel had been shot.
He said he became aware at some stage that a prosthetic leg from the 2009 mission was taken back to the soldiers’ base in Tarin Kowt,“mounted and put into the bar as a trophy”. He said he was told it was from the body of a combatant.
Person 27 said he drank from the leg because it “seemed to be the thing that was done”. Roberts-Smith has told the court he did not drink from the leg and it was souvenired by another soldier.