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Ben Roberts-Smith, who sued nine newspapers for defamation, has returned to court to explain why a memory made him burst into tears.
Ben Roberts-Smith returned to court on the 11th anniversary of the battle that won him a place in Australian history and made him cry in the witness box.
On Thursday, the SAS veteran cried bitterly on the first day of evidence collection, describing the few seconds before he attacked the machine gun lair in the village of Tizak, Afghanistan in 2010.
On Friday, he returned to the defamation trial against Jiujia Newspaper, explaining the life and death “decision” that made him cry a day ago, and will see him being awarded the Victoria Cross.
Mr. Roberts-Smith told the court that the Taliban belt machine gun was hammering at SAS soldiers, and he realized that he had to make a choice.
“The decision is; if you do nothing, they will be injured or killed, can you go home to face their family? Or you may be injured or dead if you go by yourself?” Mr. Roberts-Smith told the court.
“I always try to feel honored for my country-the decision I made is that knowing that I did the right thing for their family, I might die.”
He said that without him, his own family can live because he knows he has done the right thing.
Mr. Roberts-Smith said that he moved towards the machine gun lair and through a gap in the wall-he shot the first gunner to fall.
The second gunner-he said he looked about 15 years old-was still firing at the suppressed Australians.
“You killed him?” his barrister Bruce McClintock asked him.
“Yes it is.”
“Are they within the rules of engagement?”
“Yes,” Mr. Roberts-Smith replied.
“What did you think then, what do you think now?” Mr. McClintock asked.
Mr. Roberts-Smith shook his head and made a face.
“I’m struggling,” he said.
The Battle of Tizak is of great significance to Australia’s efforts in Afghanistan. This was the largest exchange of fire since the Vietnam War, and the court heard that it killed 76 Taliban.
Mr. Roberts-Smith said: “This weakened the rebellion they had been unable to recover for many years.”
Mr. Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic efforts, but he said that this recognition is a monument to the bravery and bravery of the entire army.
The recognized soldier said that VC changed the way his own people treated him and “put the target on my back.”
“Once you become a tall poppy and give people a chance to drag you down, you will belittle you,” he said.
He said they used the award to make him “pure resentment.”
The court learned that nine newspapers will call 21 current and former SAS operators to testify against Roberts Smith.
Among them will be a soldier called Person 7 in Tizak.
Mr. Roberts-Smith condemned in court documents that Person No. 7 claimed that the Taliban machine gun barely fired.
“(The gunmen) attacked us with everything they had-they knew we were coming,” he said.
“They knew that either we would die or they would die. They did not surrender.”
Mr. Roberts-Smith said that the seventh person did not like him and complained to his superiors.
The court heard that Person No. 7 even returned to Tizak and traced the steps taken by Roberts-Smith as documented in official military history.
He is expected to tell the court that he disagrees with Mr. Roberts-Smith’s views on the incident.
Mr. Roberts-Smith told the court that the seventh person could return to Tizak and take the same steps without being shot or fearing death, and draw his own conclusion.
“He can’t forget that I have a Victoria Cross,” Mr. Roberts-Smith said.
The hearing continues.
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