A decorated soldiers’ furious former wife leaked photos of troops drinking out of the prosthetic leg of a dead Afghan man to the press, it has been claimed.
Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is suing Australian news channel 9News over stories alleging war crimes in Afghanistan.
Images emerged in 2018 of Roberts-Smith posing with another man with what 9News suggested was the leg taken from a killed Afghan in March 2009.
They reported that they later used it as a ‘beer drinking vessel’ in a bar. The 42-year-old denies the allegations of war crimes, calling them “completely without any foundation in truth”.
9News claim he “broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement” when he fatally shot a soldier and then “souvenired” his prosthetic leg.
(Image: Getty Images)
Now lawyers for the soldier have told the court his estranged wife leaked the photos.
It was said “hundreds” of images exist of Australian soldiers drinking out of a prosthetic leg.
His legal team previously explained that he killed the Taliban soldier but never drank from the “disgusting” leg.
She is now expected to tell the court he became “erratic” and “paranoid” after allegations of war crimes emerged.
(Image: Reuters)
A court judgment gave the first insights into her expected evidence.
Ms Roberts noticed her husband become troubled as the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force began looking into allegations in October 2013.
“Ms Roberts states that following the commencement of the Inspector-General’s investigation, the applicant became, at times, erratic and suffered from mood swings,” the document read.
“Mr Roberts-Smith asked his friend, an ex-army doctor, Dr Gogna, to prescribe him beta blockers for excessive alcohol usage, anxiety and depression.”
(Image: Getty Images)
The defamation trial will begin next week.
The Federal Court were told that that the soldier’s lawyers were still processing the contents of USB drives.
Becoming central to the case, they allege the drives contained documents about missions in Afghanistan.
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9News allege the USBs were buried by him in a lunch box in his back garden.
“Processing hundreds of images of soldiers drinking from the leg is too onerous and too long,” Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister Matthew Richardson told the court.
Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for military bravery, by Queen Elizabeth in 2011.
The trial is expected to run for up to 10 weeks.