Ben Roberts-Smith Hired a Private Investigator & Used Burner Phones, Court Hears

Ben Roberts-Smith Hired a Private Investigator & Used Burner Phones, Court Hears

The Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case is doing a brilliant job of remaining newsworthy.

In the last two days, Roberts-Smith has admitted he hired a private investigator and used burner phones.

According to The Guardian, Roberts Smith said in court that he hired a private investigator and commissioned the PI to check his alleged mistress was getting an abortion in Brisbane.

For her privacy and protection, the alleged mistress in court is being referred to as Person 17.

“I felt I was being manipulated and I didn’t feel the situation transpiring was real,” Roberts-Smith told the court.

However, the soldier-turned-media-executive said that despite Person 17 attending the abortion clinic, he did not believe she had a termination that day.

According to The Financial Review, the former SAS soldier alleged that when he showed Person 17 a video of herself entering the clinic, she broke down and said she’d already had an abortion and then changed her story to say she’d just had a miscarriage.

Roberts-Smith also vehemently denied claims he had ever punched Person 17.

“That particular allegation, coupled with being called a war criminal, ruined my life,” he said.

“I found it hard to leave the house. I have such disdain for those types of people, and to be labelled that, and to have to wear that, was just very difficult,” Roberts-Smith said.

The Guardian also reported that Roberts-Smith commissioned the PI to find the home addresses of the soldiers he believed were speaking to the media about him.

The Victoria Cross recipient alleged that he only wanted the addresses of his former comrades to establish if they were speaking to the media and “to provide that information to the defence so they could take the appropriate action”.

According to Bega District News, Roberts-Smith used prepaid phones to contact the soldiers he believed spoke to the media about him.

“I simply did not trust they (media) were not trying to intercept my communications,” Roberts-Smith told the court.

However, court documents have shown that he allegedly asked his PI to send a threatening letter to the home of a SAS soldier.

The PI has been subpoenaed to give evidence during the trial.

Even though the case is set to run for two months, it does not seem like there will be a dull day in court.

Featured image source: YouTube/ABC News




Please login with linkedin to comment

ben roberts-smith defamation defamation case Nine

Latest News

Havas Red Wins PagerDuty PR Account
  • Marketing

Havas Red Wins PagerDuty PR Account

Havas Red wins PagerDuty's PR. And judging by B&T having to Google PagerDuty, it could probably do with some help.

Adam Sandler Seemingly ‘Slams’ Ukraine In Pro-Kremlin Campaign
  • Media

Adam Sandler Seemingly ‘Slams’ Ukraine In Pro-Kremlin Campaign

Voice-dubbed videos of Adam Sandler, Emma Stone, and Bradley Cooper, among other Hollywood stars, seemingly slamming Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky have flooded social media. The videos are said to be real interviews with the stars, but they have been voice-dubbed in German and French with words that were never actually spoken. In one video […]

New Marketing & Comms Agency For Defence & Aerospace Industry Takes Flight
  • Marketing

New Marketing & Comms Agency For Defence & Aerospace Industry Takes Flight

PR and comms firm The Recognition Group has launched Sovereign, a new integrated agency focused on serving the defence and aerospace sectors in Australia. Sovereign builds on The Recognition Group’s portfolio of marketing and public relations (PR) agencies—including Recognition PR, Write Away Communication, and Outsource—which focuses primarily on business-to-business (B2B) market sectors including IT and […]

Opinion: Do Punters Want To Wear Your Brand?
  • Opinion

Opinion: Do Punters Want To Wear Your Brand?

ALDI recently took a foray into streetwear with a 10-piece collection including a sweatshirt, a beanie and even a pair of slides. But Molly Blacker, head of strategy at Slingshot, believes that the supermarket chain has changed how Aussies think about shopping and has even more lessons for brands to consider. I spend my week […]

Opinion

by B&T Magazine

B&T Magazine
WiredCo Builds Portfolio With Appointment To G.J. Gardner Creative Account
  • Advertising

WiredCo Builds Portfolio With Appointment To G.J. Gardner Creative Account

Australian home builder, G.J. Gardner has announced the appointment of WiredCo. as the brand’s creative and content agency of record. The family business, which has been in operation since 1983, operates under a franchise model across Australia, New Zealand and the USA. WiredCo., who pitched against ten agencies, has been retained to deliver strategic and […]

Keep Left Reveals ‘Strategically Assembled’ Strategy Team
  • Advertising

Keep Left Reveals ‘Strategically Assembled’ Strategy Team

Building on its Ideas People Choose positioning, national independent PR and creative agency Keep Left has revealed a redefined, fit-for-purpose strategy team that bridges the gap between earned and creative. Strategy director Laura Agricola steps up to lead the team following three years with the agency as a senior brand strategist. She has more than […]

Initiative’s Michael Chong: What Do Mountaineering, Media & Marketing Have In Common?
  • Advertising

Initiative’s Michael Chong: What Do Mountaineering, Media & Marketing Have In Common?

Michael Chong, Initiative’s chief analytics officer, has done something quite remarkable — climbing Ama Dablam, one of the most challenging peaks in the Himalayas on a trek that takes the best part of a month. Here, he tells B&T about his marvellous mountaineering, and what we can learn from it. Ama Dablam, rising proudly at an […]

CMOs To Watch: DrinkWise’s Part Time Builder, Part Time Marketer, Nathan Kent
  • Marketing

CMOs To Watch: DrinkWise’s Part Time Builder, Part Time Marketer, Nathan Kent

Introducing Nathan Kent, a Bunning’s aficionado, a Radiohead groupie and the marketing director at DrinkWise. Welcome back to ‘CMOs To Watch‘ . Once a month, we look beyond the biggest marketing bosses in Australia and the world to focus on emerging leaders and under-the-radar brands. Kent holds an impressive CV. After eight years in various roles […]

by B&T Magazine

B&T Magazine
Mari Kauppinen Pops Up As MD Of ITA Group ANZ
  • Marketing

Mari Kauppinen Pops Up As MD Of ITA Group ANZ

ITA Group, a global leader in engagement solutions, has announced the acquisition of Sydney-based Performance Incentives and the appointment of Mari Kauppinen as managing director of ITA Group’s Australia office. The formation of ITA Group’s Australia office, headquartered in Sydney, builds on its existing client base to deliver events, incentives, recognition, loyalty, research and learning […]

by B&T Magazine

B&T Magazine
Slew Of Promotions For Special Senior Creative Leadership Team
  • Advertising

Slew Of Promotions For Special Senior Creative Leadership Team

Special has bolstered its senior creative leadership team, promoting Max McKeon, Sian Binder, Lea Egan, Nils Eberhardt and Simon Gibson to group creative directors. Lead image: L to R – Sian Binder, Max McKeon, Nils Ederhardt, Lea Egan, Simon Gibson “This crew is some of the best and brightest that our industry has to offer, so […]

Cosmo Returns To Australia!
  • Media

Cosmo Returns To Australia!

Ever get the feeling we've weirdly warped back to 1988 at the moment? Confirm it with the relaunch of Cosmo in print.