Decorated Soldier Arrested During Family Shopping Trip to Sydney
Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated living soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, was taking his teenage daughters on a shopping day trip to Sydney when he was dramatically arrested getting off a Qantas flight and charged with war crimes. The 47-year-old had flown from Queensland to New South Wales with his 15-year-old twin daughters and partner Sarah Matulin on the morning of April 7, with all four holding return tickets to Brisbane for what was meant to be an Easter school holidays expedition.
Strategic Arrest Timing and Location
Federal authorities knew Roberts-Smith was making the journey last Tuesday and could have arrested him when he returned to his home state that evening, according to a source close to the former soldier. Roberts-Smith believes authorities chose to arrest and prosecute him in NSW because his case would be more likely to succeed there than in Queensland, where committal hearings are still held to determine whether sufficient evidence exists for a trial.
Roberts-Smith's lawyers contend that if their client faced a committal hearing in Queensland, the evidence against him might be considered too weak for a trial to proceed. NSW no longer conducts such preliminary hearings, potentially giving prosecutors an advantage in moving directly to trial.
Five-Year Investigation Culminates in Arrest
The arrest followed a five-year joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator. Roberts-Smith has been held for the past ten days at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater in Sydney's west after being taken into custody in front of his family at Sydney Airport.
He has been charged with five counts of 'war crime - murder' allegedly committed between 2009 and 2012 while serving with the Special Air Service in Afghanistan. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, though Roberts-Smith has consistently denied involvement in any unlawful killings.
Specific Allegations and Unidentified Victims
Court documents reveal disturbing details about the alleged crimes. Roberts-Smith is accused under the Commonwealth Criminal Code of shooting dead an unarmed Afghan, murdering another with an SAS comrade, and ordering the execution of three more individuals. Two of the five Afghan men he is accused of murdering have never been identified by war crimes investigators.
One alleged victim is described only as 'Person Under Control 1' or 'Enemy Killed in Action 3', with Roberts-Smith accused of murdering that Afghan male with another SAS member at Syahchow in Uruzgan Province on October 20, 2012. Another victim known only as 'Person Under Control 2' or 'Enemy Killed in Action 4' was allegedly killed the same day in the same location.
Named Victims and Disturbing Details
Three of Roberts-Smith's alleged victims are named in court documents. He is accused of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring Person 4 to shoot dead Mohammed Essa on April 12, 2009 at Kakarak in Uruzgan Province, and intentionally causing the death of Ahmadullah at the same location on the same day.
Mohammed Essa was the father of Ahmadullah, whose prosthetic leg was reportedly taken as a trophy after his death and later used as a drinking vessel at the SAS's Tarin Kowt base. Roberts-Smith is further charged with aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring Person 11 to kill Ali Jan at Darwan in Uruzgan Province on September 11, 2012.
Ali Jan was the shepherd that Nine newspapers previously claimed Roberts-Smith kicked off a cliff before ordering his execution. Each alleged victim is described in charge sheets as 'not taking an active part in hostilities' when they were killed.
Prosecution Challenges and Press Conference
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett stated at a press conference shortly after the arrest that 'It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed. It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused, or shot by subordinate members of the ADF, in the presence of, and acting on the orders of, the accused.'
OSI director of investigations Ross Barnett emphasized the complexity of prosecuting war crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan, noting investigators have been examining 'literally dozens of murders alleged to have been committed in the middle of a warzone, in a country 9,000km from Australia that we can no longer access.'
Barnett explained the significant challenges: 'We don't have access to the crime scene... we don't have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood-spatter analysis, all of those things we'd normally get at a crime scene. We don't have access to the deceased - there's no post-mortem, therefore there's no official cause of death.'
Broader Investigation Context
The AFP and OSI have commenced 53 investigations involving allegations of war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, with 10 ongoing. One investigation resulted in former SAS member Oliver Schulz being charged with murdering a man called Dad Mohammad at Deh Jawz in Uruzgan Province on May 28, 2012.
Schulz was patrolling a wheat field when he allegedly encountered Dad Mohammad lying on his back with his hands and knees raised and shot him dead. The now 44-year-old was arrested on March 20, 2023 and spent a week behind bars before being granted $200,000 bail in Downing Centre Local Court, with his trial listed for February 2027.
Legal Proceedings and Funding
Roberts-Smith will apply for bail today in Downing Centre Local Court. The case against him will be run by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, with his defence funded by the Afghanistan Inquiry Legal Assistance Scheme.
His arrest came almost three years after he lost a defamation action against Nine newspapers, which published a series of reports in 2018 accusing him of being a war criminal. The Daily Mail previously revealed Roberts-Smith had repeatedly offered to present himself to police if they were going to charge him with war crimes.
When questioned about the decision to charge Roberts-Smith in NSW and whether that state was chosen to give the prosecution an advantage, an AFP spokesperson stated: 'This was a joint investigation by OSI and the AFP. Investigators made the arrest at the most appropriate time and location for operational needs. No further comment will be made.'
