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The arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith · The Front

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  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
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  Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. Australia's most highly decorated living soldier,
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  Speaker 1: Ben Roberts Smith, is facing the prospect of life in
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  Speaker 1: prison if he's convicted of five counts of war crime
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  Speaker 1: murder after being arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning.
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  Speaker 1: It's likely Robert Smith, who has not yet been required
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  Speaker 1: to enter a plea, will strongly defend the chargers. Robert
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  Speaker 1: Smith is forty seven years old now and enlisted as
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  Speaker 1: a soldier in the Australian Army fresh out of school
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  Speaker 1: at the age of eighteen. He did two tours in
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  Speaker 1: East team Or before working his way through the arduous
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  Speaker 1: selection courses to enter the Special Air Service Regiment, a
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  Speaker 1: special forces unit deployed on long range reconnaissance, counterinsurgency and
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  Speaker 1: tactical missions. Robert Smith served in Fiji, Iraq and six
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  Speaker 1: tours in Afghanistan, where in twenty ten he was named
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  Speaker 1: in dispatches for his courage in staging a daring rescue
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  Speaker 1: of his patrol after they got pinned down by Taliban
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  Speaker 1: fire while searching for an alleged enemy commander Robert Smith
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  Speaker 1: was recorded as darting away from his comrades to draw
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  Speaker 1: fire towards himself before storming the insurgent's positions. For this,
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  Speaker 1: he was awarded the Victoria Cross, Australia's highest award for gallantry.
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  Speaker 1: He was also awarded the Medal for Gallantry and a
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  Speaker 1: commendation for distinguished service. But in twenty seventeen, allegations began
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  Speaker 1: to emerge that Robert Smith had engaged in unlawful killings
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  Speaker 1: while on duty in Afghanistan, including allegedly murdering a teenage boy.
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  Speaker 1: Other members of the SASR raised allegations that Robert Smith
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  Speaker 1: was a war criminal. Robert Smith, who by van had
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  Speaker 1: left the army and become an executive at seven West Media,
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  Speaker 1: launched defamation action against Nine Entertainment, publisher of the Sydney
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  Speaker 1: Morning Herald and the Age. He lost in devastating fashion,
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  Speaker 1: with Justice Anthony Bissanco of the Federal Court declaring Robert
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  Speaker 1: Smith was complicit in the death of four Afghan nationals
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  Speaker 1: and had disgraced his country. In light of my conclusions,
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  Speaker 1: each proceeding must be dismissed devastated with the result.
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  Speaker 2: It's a terrible outcome and it's the correct outcome.
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  Speaker 3: Today is a day of justice. It's a day of
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  Speaker 3: justice for those brave men of the SAS who stood
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  Speaker 3: up and told the truth about who then Robert Smith
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  Speaker 3: is a war criminal, a bully and a liar.
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  Speaker 1: Robert Smith appealed unsuccessfully to the full Bench of the
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  Speaker 1: Federal Court and then the High Court, which refused leave
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  Speaker 1: to appeal in twenty twenty five. Since then, a Special
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  Speaker 1: War Crimes Investigator has been working with Australian Federal Police
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  Speaker 1: on the case, and on Tuesday morning they swooped. Here's
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  Speaker 1: AFP Commissioner Chrissy Barrett, a.
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  Speaker 2: Former Australian Defense Force member, has today been arrested and
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  Speaker 2: will be charged with five counts of war crime murder
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  Speaker 2: after a joint investigation between the Office of the Special
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  Speaker 2: Investigator and the AFP. The former soldier was arrested at
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  Speaker 2: Sydney's Domestic Airport this morning and is expected to face
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  Speaker 2: a new South Wales court later today. It will be
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  Speaker 2: alleged the man was a member of the ADF when
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  Speaker 2: he was involved in the death of Afghan nationals between
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  Speaker 2: two thousand and nine and twenty twelve in circumstances that
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  Speaker 2: constitute war crimes. Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, the offense
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  Speaker 2: of war crime murder carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
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  Speaker 2: It will be alleged the victims were not taking part
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  Speaker 2: in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan.
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  Speaker 2: It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and
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  Speaker 2: were under the control of EIGHTYF members when they were killed.
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  Speaker 2: It will be alleged the victims were shot by the
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  Speaker 2: accused or shot by subordinate menism of the ADF in
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  Speaker 2: the presence of and acting on the orders of the accused.
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  Speaker 1: An Australian Federal Police press release says Robert Smith is
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  Speaker 1: accused of intentionally causing two deaths and aiding a betting,
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  Speaker 1: counseling or procuring another person to intentionally cause the other
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  Speaker 1: three deaths. The Director of the Office of the Special Investigator,
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  Speaker 1: Ross Barnett, said other people could be charged.
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  Speaker 4: Will continue this investigation until we get to the endpoint
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  Speaker 4: and wherever the evidence leads, that's where we'll go. If
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  Speaker 4: the evidence leads to other people needing to be charged,
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  Speaker 4: you can be assured that will happen.
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  Speaker 1: He and Barrett refuse to give more details about Roberts
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  Speaker 1: Smith's arrest apart from confirming he'd been intercepted by officers
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  Speaker 1: after landing in Sydney on a flight from Brisbane.
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  Speaker 4: It is also important to acknowledge that the person charge
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  Speaker 4: is entitled to the presumption of innocence until determined otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: The Office of the Special Investigator was created by then
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Scott Morrison in twenty two to look into
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  Speaker 1: allegations of war crimes that had also been examined by
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  Speaker 1: Inspector General Paul Breton. Breton found in twenty twenty that
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  Speaker 1: thirty nine individuals had been killed unlawfully while non combatants
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  Speaker 1: or prisoners of Australian forces. The Breton report indicated a
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  Speaker 1: culture of cover up, including senior officers allegedly encouraging junior
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  Speaker 1: soldiers to shoot prisoners in a ritual known as blooding,
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  Speaker 1: and planting radios or weapons on unarmed people to conceal
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  Speaker 1: alleged war crimes. Barnett said the OSI was still working
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  Speaker 1: on several of the allegations of murder it was tasked
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  Speaker 1: with investigating.
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  Speaker 4: These investigations are incredibly complex, unlike a conventional investigation, that's
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  Speaker 4: conducted in Australia. The OSI is being tasked with investigating
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  Speaker 4: literally dozens of murders alleged to have been committed in
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  Speaker 4: the middle of a war zone and a country nine
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  Speaker 4: thousand klumnus from Australia that we can no longer access.
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  Speaker 4: We don't have access to the crime scenes. We don't
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  Speaker 4: have photographs, side plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood
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  Speaker 4: spatter analysis, all of those things we would normally get
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  Speaker 4: at a crime scene. There's no post mortem, therefore there's
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  Speaker 4: no official cause of death.
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  Speaker 1: Ben Robert Smith has always strongly denied any wrongdoing and
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  Speaker 1: will now begin marshaling his defense no doubt, including engaging
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  Speaker 1: high flying barristers to represent him in court if his
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  Speaker 1: previous conduct is any measure. In the defamation matter, Robert
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  Speaker 1: Smith was found to have committed offense only on the
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  Speaker 1: balance of probabilities, the civil standard, but in a criminal
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  Speaker 1: trial prosecutors would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that
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  Speaker 1: he is guilty, a much higher standard of proof. That
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  Speaker 1: developing story is live right now at Beaustralian dot com
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  Speaker 1: dot au dous come back to the front first thing
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: in the morning for our look at the intriguing secret
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: life of one of our best known billionaires, Andrew Twiggy
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  Speaker 1: Forrest is all about minerals, renewables and R. M. Williams boots,
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  Speaker 1: but he also turns out to be an international diplomatic
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  Speaker 1: wheeler and dealer. That's right here, Wednesday morning,