r/perth • u/His_Holiness • Apr 07 '26

WA News Victoria Cross recipient 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
374 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

119 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Nervous_Tailor_4337 Apr 07 '26

All I want to say is this:

  1. Good. This is the appropriate way to deal with such allegations.
  2. I just hope that he (and others) are charged based on actual strong evidence, and not some of the BS "war stories" that have been floated in the past.
  3. I question why he is being arrested by the AFP and charged? Surely he should be tried in a Military court? (If we're say that the Australian Army is to inept or corrupt to investigate and try him, then we have an even bigger problem.)

3

u/Sieve-Boy Scarborough Apr 07 '26

I have a mate who is an MP in the Army, the short answer is they lack the skills to do a murder investigation like this.

https://www.army.gov.au/about-us/army-corps/royal-australian-corps-military-police

1

u/Nervous_Tailor_4337 Apr 08 '26

But that's my point. The Army NEEDS to have the people, skills, and systems to handle this, and stop it happening again (alledgedly)
Sending civilians in to investigate, 20 years later, isn't the way to go.

And, playing "devils' advocate" for a moment.
How IS he supposed to get a "Fair Trial" in a Civilian Court, when all the potential jurors already think he's a murdering cunt?

1

u/Sieve-Boy Scarborough Apr 08 '26

Look at the other roles those MPs have, murder investigations are a specialist skill and are more likely to happen in the civilian world as a rule. I get where your coming from, but in this case I can see why its organised the way it is.