On the second day of his testimony, Ben Roberts-Smith broke down in tears while describing killing an Afghan boy who was operating a machine gun for the Taliban.
When asked by his barrister Bruce McClintock, SC, whether he had noticed how old the Afghan boy operating the machine gun in southern Afghanistan in 2010, Mr Roberts-Smith said he did.
“You killed a 15-year-old boy … how do you feel about that?” asked Mr McClintock.
“I struggle,” Mr Roberts-Smith replied, pausing to wipe his eyes.
The proceedings were then adjourned, and Mr Roberts-Smith was comforted by his parents.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s tears came after he recounted the firefight during a 14-hour battle with the Taliban that earned him the Victoria Cross, but told the court “put a target on my back”.
“For all the good that it has brought me and enabled me to do, particularly, it is, unfortunately, the case, in my instance, it has also brought me a lot of misfortune and pain,” he said.
“I was there to do a job, I wasn’t there to make friends.”
Mr Roberts-Smith referred to becoming a “tall poppy” following the award, which gave his fellow soldiers a chance to “belittle” and “broaden their attacks” on him.
Mr Roberts-Smith also admitted to punching a soldier who had shot at a woman and child while both soldiers were on patrol in the Chora Valley in southern Afghanistan in 2012.
Mr Roberts-Smith said he didn’t think Person 10 was attempting to kill the civilians, but “had just lost control, that’s what was dangerous, anything could happen”.
The soldier, Person 10, is one of the former SAS soldiers who have accused Mr Roberts-Smith of bullying.
Back at Tarin Kowt base, Mr Roberts-Smith said Person 10 “giggled at me and chuckled and I asked him to stand up and I punched him in the face. He fell back onto his bum on the couch.”
Mr Roberts-Smith said he immediately reported the punch, as well as what had happened on the mission, to his superiors and later apologised to Person 10.
Prior to Mr Roberts-Smith’s testimony, defence counsel Nicholas Owens SC summarised the case by the newspapers, alleging Mr Roberts-Smith had colluded to lie about being a mass murderer, and has conspired with a former girlfriend to conceal his alleged assault of her.
Mr Roberts-Smith responded to the claims, saying the allegations made him “sad”, and the claims he allegedly told another soldier to order a junior trooper to execute an unarmed Afghan made him “very angry”.
When asked about his reaction to “being called a mass murderer”, Mr Roberts-Smith said, “I spent my whole life fighting for my country. I did everything I possibly could to ensure I did it with honour.”
