Disgraced former-soldier Ben Roberts-Smith – who was pictured cheering on a soldier drinking from the prosthetic leg of a dead Afghan man – has agreed to pay the costs of his failed defamation case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Roberts-Smith has agreed to pay the costs of the failed trial on an indemnity basis from the time that his case first appeared in court in early 2020.
Meanwhile, billionaire mogul Kerry Stokes, who owns the Seven Network, will fight calls for them to pay for the multimillion-dollar defamation suit.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, which is owned by Seven’s rival Nine, Roberts-Smith’s barrister gave no indication that the ex-soldier would be appealing Justice Anthony Besanko’s findings that the newspapers had successfully proven that Roberts-Smith was a war criminal.
The case ran over 110 days, included 41 witnesses and is estimated to have cost more than $25 million in legal fees.
Besanko found that the newspapers had proved three of the murders, as well as an act of bullying. Allegations of domestic violence were not proven.
Majority shareholder in Seven West Media, Stokes, funded the case through the public company at the beginning before transferring the liability to his private company Australian Capital Equity.
Seven covered the legal costs of the three witnesses whom needed to give evidence on behalf of Roberts-Smith.
Roberts-Smith stepped down from his role as managing director of Seven West Queensland the day after the trial. Seven announced his replacement, Todd Dickinson, earlier this week.
