War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has failed to overturn his multimillion-dollar defamation loss which found his complicit in war crimes on the balance of probability. The federal court has also dismissed the former SAS corporals attempts to reopen his appeal. Despite the crushing blows, Mr Roberts-Smith has vowed to take his fight to Australia’s highest court.
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00:00A desperate attempt from one of Australia's most decorated soldiers to clear his name.
00:09Today, it was dismissed.
00:11How's your client feeling about this decision?
00:13Ben Robert Smith was a no-show at Federal Court this morning,
00:17where a bid to overturn his defamation loss against nine newspapers was unanimously thrown out.
00:24The Victoria Cross recipient argued the primary judge in the mammoth civil trial made several legal errors
00:31when he found the former SAS corporal complicit in war crimes while deployed to Afghanistan.
00:39But the full bench of the Federal Court did not agree.
00:43The evidence was sufficiently cogent to support the findings that the appellant murdered four Afghan men.
00:51There's a small, there's a small sample, does it?
00:54The small says it all. Thanks, guys.
00:55Mr Robert Smith's last-minute attempt to reopen his appeal,
01:00with the inclusion of a secret recording of investigative journalist Nick McKenzie speaking to a witness,
01:06was also dismissed.
01:08The veteran has been ordered to pay Nines' legal costs.
01:12Mr McKenzie, who wrote the articles, called the ruling an emphatic win
01:16and branded Mr Robert Smith a war criminal.
01:19Is this the end of the road for Ben Robert Smith?
01:21According to him, it isn't.
01:24Mr Robert Smith said he will immediately seek to challenge both decisions in the High Court
01:30and continues to deny what he describes as spiteful allegations.
01:35The court's reasons for its decision today haven't been published yet.
01:49Parts of it will never be released due to national security concerns.
01:54And as far for the rest, the Commonwealth has been given until Tuesday next week
01:58to review it and decide whether more needs to be redacted.
02:02While one side breathes a sigh of relief.
02:05Any celebrations planned for later tonight?
02:08The other prepares to soldier on in this costly legal war.
02:12Any
02:27Boat