Accused war criminal allowed to move closer to family
Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been given the green light to move home and live closer to his family while he is on bail for alleged war crimes.
The 47-year-old man was arrested in April and accused of killing or ordering the killing of five unarmed detainees while he was serving in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
The Victoria Cross recipient lives with his partner in a property owned by his parents, who have just sold their home and plan to move into the home where Roberts-Smith currently resides.
As a result, he wants to rent new housing for himself and his family in south-east Queensland, and his lawyers are asking for his bail conditions to be changed in Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court on Tuesday.
“This is a chicken-and-egg situation,” Judge Susan Horan said.
“I appreciate and would like to understand the court situation before going and arranging accommodation.”
The judge ruled it was appropriate for Roberts-Smith to move once her new address was provided and checked by the director of public prosecutions.
It also changed reporting requirements to avoid forcing him to make a three-hour round trip to a NSW police station three times a week.
Roberts-Smith will be asked to report to the same police station only once a week and twice a week to a police station in southeast Queensland.
In mid-June the former soldier’s bail was changed and he was allowed to attend the opening of the ANZAC Hall at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Tuesday evening.
But his lawyer Slade Howell told the court his plans had changed.
“Mr Roberts-Smith has been ill over the last few days and did not travel to Canberra to attend the official opening of the War Memorial today,” he said.
Roberts-Smith did not contest any of the charges but said she would use the upcoming hearing to clear her name.
Australia’s most decorated living soldier is accused of opening fire on Afghan prisoner Mohammed Essa with a machine gun during a raid on a compound in April 2009 and ordering the execution of his son Ahmadullah to “bleed his rookie”.
The then-SAS soldier allegedly planted firearms on the bodies to falsely claim they were enemy combatants, according to court documents.
In the village of Darwan in August 2012, Roberts-Smith is accused of kicking a handcuffed man, Ali Jan, off a 10-metre cliff before ordering him to be dragged into a creek bed and shot.
Two months later at Syahchow, he allegedly lined up two prisoners in a cornfield, then shot one with another soldier.
Prosecutors alleged that the attacker ordered a subordinate to shoot the other prisoner before throwing a grenade over the bodies to cover up what he had done.
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