Bombshell photos taken by ex-wife of war hero Ben Roberts-Smith show where she reportedly buried sensitive information related to their time Afghanistan.
Mr Roberts-Smith, 42, is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times over 2018 articles that he said portrayed him as a perpetrator, who lost his deployment with the SAS. During the military engagement the moral and legal rules were broken.
War Hero denies the claims while news outlets defend the truth.
Federal court documents state that his ex-wife Emma Roberts found a box with a USB hidden under a hose-reel in the then couple’s yard, removed by her friend Danielle Scott and copied on March 16, 2020 .
Court documents said the two women put the USB back where they found them, and Ms. Roberts later photographed the area of land where they were allegedly hiding.
Ben Roberts-Smith has filed a defamation suit on charges of committing war crimes in Afghanistan while in Australian SAS
This photo, taken by Emma Roberts, the ex-wife of Ben Roberts-Smith, is said to show the patch of land where she alleged that she buried Usb in the couple’s yard. The photo is part of recently released court documents
Ms Roberts had previously indicated that she would claim Mr Roberts-Smith buried six USB sticks containing hundreds of photographs in a pink lunch box in the couple’s backyard, which she has denied.
Ms Scott says that shortly before March 15, 2020 Ms. Roberts told her that she suspected Mr. Roberts-Smith had buried something in her backyard.
When Ms Scott met with Ms Roberts about 16 March, the couple reportedly looked in the backyard to see if they could find the one who was buried.
Emma Roberts alleges that she found Usb buried at the location pictured, although Ben Roberts-Smith denies this
Ms. Scott is Ms. Roberts’ best friend and has known her for 45 years
According to Ms Scott the pair saw a rock on the ground under a hose reel and dug beneath it using a pitchfork. About 10 to 15 cm down they reportedly found a lunchbox containing six USBs inside a plastic snap-lock bag.
Ms. Scott copies the contents of the USB to her computer, the pair put them back in the bag and re-bury the lunchbox.
According to Ms Scott, she was later contacted by the Australian Federal Police and provided that agency with a copy of the contents of the USB.
Ms Scott says that on 5 June Ms Roberts told her that ‘Ben is coming to collect some documents’ and the pair discussed the possibility of talking about USB in the lunchbox.
After the call, Ms. Roberts sent Ms. Scott four photographs of the area where they say the lunchbox was buried.
Mr. Roberts-Smith denies burying the USB in the lunch box.
According to court documents, Ms Roberts also reportedly told Scott that Mr Roberts-Smith had pressured her to lie about their separation while they were having an affair.
Ms Roberts said she was pressured to lie on the basis of ‘she would lose everything’ if she didn’t do it, outlining evidence to be given by her best friend Danielle Scott in the war hero’s defamation trial .
The high-profile Federal Court trial, which was partly heard, has been postponed until November due to the pandemic and Sydney’s lockdown.
Ben Roberts-Smith with his ex-wife Emma Roberts
Mr Roberts-Smith is also suing over claims he assaulted a woman in a Canberra hotel room.
The former Special Forces Corporal denies all claims, while the publishers defend the truth.
Also on Friday in a related case, Mr. Roberts-Smith’s lawyers applied to subject his ex-wife to cross-examination regarding her response to court orders related to the ex-serviceman’s email account.
He was ordered to hand over any information obtained from the account, including copies of documents, to his lawyers to ascertain whether he had given confidential information to newspapers.
He reportedly had access to that account with his lawyers regarding the defamation case and a separate investigation into the conduct of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
In applying for her investigation, her barrister Arthur Moses SC made ‘compelling’ references about Ms Roberts sending an email to her best friend Ms Scott.
The outline of the evidence filed by the publishers is expected to be given by Ms Scott, also known to be a close friend of the first couple.
She was expected to say that in a phone call on 6 April 2018, Ms. Roberts said: ‘Are you sitting?’
Ms Scott is said to have replied: ‘Should I be?’ Then Ms. Roberts said: ‘Yeah, I’m standing on my porch and I’m looking at Ben’s girlfriend.’
Ms Roberts reportedly said the woman, known as Person 17 at trial, had a ‘big black eye’ to protect her identity.
During the phone call, Ms Scott is also said to have spoken to her friend’s mother, who said words to the effect ‘I asked her if Ben gave her a black eye and she said no’.
The document, prepared by lawyers for the media outlet, said they expected Ms. Roberts to provide evidence that she separated from her husband in early 2020, but learned that she was married to a 17-year-old in April 2018. had a relationship with.
After that time, her husband told her to lie and said that they had separated at the time of the affair to protect her if the matter became public, the document said.
Mr. Roberts-Smith testified at the defamation hearing that he asked a private investigator, John McLeod, to follow Person 17 to an abortion clinic because he suspected she was lying about being pregnant.
Text messages released by the court on Friday showed Mr MacLeod had texted Mr Roberts-Smith a video in October 2018.
The ex-soldier replied with his tongue-in-the-mouth emoji: ‘Thank you John looking a little polished for someone who should be undertaking [sic] That process!’
Mr. McLeod is also expected to testify in the proceedings.
A decision on Ms. Roberts’ application to investigate will be given at a later date.
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