KEY MOMENTS IN BEN ROBERTS-SMITH'S ACTION-PACKED LIFE
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
1978
* Born in Perth, the son of Sue and Len Roberts-Smith, who became a Supreme Court judge, Army Reserve major general, judge advocate general of the Australian Defence Force and chair of an independent task force that examined abuse in the ADF
1994-1995
* Completes secondary education at Perth's private Hale School for boys
1996
* Joins the Australian Army, taking part in two tours of East Timor
2003
* Posted to the Special Air Service Regiment
* Marries Emma Groom
2006
* On his first tour of Afghanistan, the then-lance corporal awarded the Medal for Gallantry for actions as a patrol scout and sniper
2009
* During SAS mission in Uruzgan province it's later alleged he made a "rookie" soldier execute one of two unarmed Afghans taken prisoner from a tunnel and executed the other, who had a prosthetic leg
2010
* For his "most conspicuous gallantry" and "valour" during his fifth tour of Afghanistan in the battle of Tizak on June 11, he's later awarded the Victoria Cross
* The Roberts-Smiths' twin daughters Eve and Elizabeth are born
2012
* His leadership and courage as a patrol commander on more than 50 high-risk operations is later recognised with a Commendation for Distinguished Service
* In Uruzgan, he's alleged to have kicked a handcuffed and innocent farmer off a cliff, before that man was dragged across a creek bed into a cornfield and shot dead
* He allegedly shot a terrified adolescent prisoner in the head, with an AK47 planted on his body to give the impression he was armed
2013
* Retires as full-time soldier and forms consultancy, RS Group Australia
* Named Australian father of the year
2014
* Appointed chair of the National Australia Day Council (until 2017).
2015
* Appointed deputy general manager of regional television network Seven Queensland
* Promoted to general manager
2016
* Army Reserve major general Justice Paul Brereton leads inquiry for the ADF inspector-general to determine the substance to rumours of Australian breaches of armed conflict rules in Afghanistan since 2005
* Roberts-Smith graduates with an MBA from the University of Queensland
2018
* He's alleged to have punched his mistress in the temple causing her to stagger and fall onto a bed in a Canberra hotel room
* Sues the publishers of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times for defamation over allegations of war crimes, bullying and domestic violence
2020
* Separates from Emma Roberts
* Brereton report finds credible evidence of 23 incidents in which a total of 39 Afghan nationals were unlawfully killed and identifies 25 current or former ADF personnel accused of perpetrating war crimes
2021
* Special investigator Justice Mark Weinberg begins follow-up of the Brereton report to determine potential prosecutions
* Defamation trial between Roberts-Smith and media outlets begins in the Federal Court, Sydney, in June
2022
* Trial finishes in July
2023, June 1
* Justice Anthony Besanko dismisses Roberts-Smith's case against the media outlets, finding most of the war crimes and bullying allegations against him substantially true, with a defence of contextual truth accepted in the domestic violence allegation involving his mistress
Lifeline 13 11 14
Open Arms 1800 011 046
Australian Associated Press
