Dean Tilley thought he would die in the mud during a firefight in Afghanistan. Instead,he saw another man murdered. Telling his story would bring its own dangers.
A Federal Court judge has found the decorated war veteran murdered four unarmed Afghan prisoners and bullied a colleague.
Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko was expected to deliver his decision in the decorated former soldier’s landmark defamation case at 2.15pm in Sydney.
The disgraced soldier remains an employee of the publicly listed media company,Seven West Media,which says it will soon decide his future.
Every day during his trial,Ben Roberts-Smith strode imperiously into court. But on the day he lost,the former soldier was nowhere to be found.
Who won? Who pays? And what about an appeal?
Ben Roberts-Smith has been found to have murdered unarmed prisoners while deployed in Afghanistan,in a historic win for investigative journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters.
The Age and the Herald have won the libel case of the century. These were always stories that deserved to be told. It should not have required one of the most expensive trials in the nation’s history to establish that.
Ben Roberts-Smith,the decorated soldier,has been found to have murdered unarmed prisoners while deployed in Afghanistan. Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie explains how we got to this point.
The wheels of justice and public debate have continued to grind beyond the confines of the landmark Ben Roberts-Smith case – and medals,reputations and,potentially,former soldiers’ freedom are at stake.
Australia’s most decorated living soldier,Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry winner Ben Roberts-Smith,has lost a landmark defamation case.