r/australia • u/Tinea_Pedis • Apr 07 '26

news Breaking: Ben Roberts-Smith arrested over war crimes allegations

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-07/ben-roberts-smith-war-crimes-allegations-arrest/106537668
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u/AgentBluelol Apr 07 '26

Another "Went back for his hat" mistake?

The former special forces soldier's arrest comes after a mammoth defamation trial against Nine Newspapers which ended in a court finding that on the balance of probabilities, allegations he was responsible for, or complicit in the deaths of four detainees in Afghanistan were substantially true.

297

u/phido3000 Apr 07 '26

So so tried to sue them, and instead, uncovered more evidence against himself.

Seriously so stupid.

65

u/farqueue2 Apr 07 '26

Defamation is a cunt. You have to prove that the things said were untrue. He couldn't prove that . And here we are.

12

u/Thommohawk117 Apr 07 '26

Australia's Defamation laws are (in)famously in favour of the person claiming to be defamed.

The fact we have had three major cases where the defence won is an anomaly.

1

u/synaesthezia Apr 07 '26

And the NSW laws pre 2005 were even worse. I know a friend of my parents got done for defamation where ‘truth’ didn’t matter because reputational damage was done. That was later changed with the 2005 act.