Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated living soldier, will stay in jail for at least a week after his lawyers declined to apply for bail during a court hearing on Wednesday. The former SAS corporal and Victoria Cross recipient was charged on Tuesday with five counts of war crime—murder—relating to alleged incidents in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Roberts-Smith was arrested at Sydney airport on Tuesday morning and spent the night at Silverwater correctional centre. He did not appear at the virtual bail hearing in New South Wales local court, with his legal representative Jordan Portokalli stating no bail application would be made on Wednesday.
Portokalli requested the matter be listed at Downing Centre local court in Sydney 'as soon as possible', but Judge Lucas Swan noted he lacked access to the court diary and initially set a status mention for 4 June. Later on Wednesday, a bail review hearing was scheduled for 17 April, with Roberts-Smith to appear via video link.
Roberts-Smith has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The charges stem from an investigation by the Australian Federal Police into alleged war crimes committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
