Ben Roberts-Smith attends Anzac Day dawn service at Currumbin while on bail
Updated ,first published
Ben Roberts-Smith was mobbed by supporters after attending a beachside dawn service on the southern Gold Coast, where the accused war criminal sat in the rain adorned with medals from his service in Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith, who is currently out on bail facing war crimes charges which he denies, arrived in a suit at the Currumbin Anzac Day ceremony at around 4.30am with his girlfriend Sarah Matulin to little fanfare.
In the car park beneath Elephant Rock at Currumbin Beach, he sat with his family a few rows back from the stage, among service personnel and veterans; Thousands of participants lined the street above and the sand along the beach on either side.
Roberts-Smith did not lay a wreath during the ceremony and the Victoria Cross recipient was not directly mentioned during the formalities.
But as the sun broke through the damp clouds as the ceremony ended, the towering figure was swarmed by supporters as scores of people thanked Roberts-Smith for his service, while an elderly gentleman told him to “keep fighting, mate”.
Roberts-Smith described interest in the south-east Queensland coast as “very intense”.
“This is a day when everyone should reflect and commemorate the service of all Australians who have given us the country we live in,” he told the media.
“We must never forget their sacrifice because it is permanent. [families who have lost loved ones at war] Think about it every day.”
Asked if she had considered not attending the dawn service, given the spotlight and the charges she was facing, Roberts-Smith said: “I never considered not coming, I was always going to be here.”
An RSL Australia spokesman said Roberts-Smith could attend Anzac Day commemorations “as a veteran and like any other member of the community”.
RSL Australia national president Peter Tinley said in a statement that the organization exists to serve all veterans and their families.
“Our responsibility is not only to honor the martyrs, but also to fiercely defend and support the living,” he said.
Roberts-Smith, a decorated SAS soldier, was arrested following a five-year investigation by the secretive Special Investigations Bureau, a team of experienced state and federal police detectives established in 2021 to investigate the involvement of Australian troops in alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The crimes charged carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
He was allowed to live in Queensland after being released on bail from Silverwater prison in Sydney. He is awaiting trial on five counts of murder, which is a war crime.
He said on Sunday that Roberts-Smith remained in custody for 10 days following his “deliberately sensational arrest” on charges he “categorically denies”.
His bail conditions require him to report to police three times a week, surrender his passport and not contact prosecution witnesses.
Roberts-Smith had already unsuccessfully challenged allegations that he had committed war crimes, including murders, in a libel case that he fought all the way to the Supreme Court. The criminal charges he now faces present a higher burden of proof for the prosecution to succeed.
Court documents released after the bail hearing revealed that prosecutors will argue that the five men killed by or on the orders of the decorated soldier were unarmed and handcuffed, and that evidence was later presented showing those deaths were legal.
Roberts-Smith’s lawyers also told the ABC that the former SAS soldier and his family did not attend a promoted “for him” rally in Melbourne on Sunday, nor was he linked to its organisers.
This imprint also attempted to contact Roberts-Smith’s attorneys for comment.
The planned rally outside Parliament House in Melbourne is backed by a group that has previously supported marches against “mass immigration” and described neo-Nazi figure Joel Davis and another man jailed for inciting racial hatred as a “political prisoner”.
The group’s stipulation that “only Australian flags” be used at the rally was disputed by its lawyers, a claim which had previously been postponed “following consultations with Ben Roberts-Smith’s family”.
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James Hall is News Director of the Brisbane Times. He is a former Queensland correspondent for The Australian Financial Review and has covered a range of headlines across the country, specializing in political and financial reporting.Connect with: X or email.
Jack Gramenz is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
