‘Hundreds’ of images show Australian soldiers drinking from slain Afghan’s prosthetic leg, court hears

Ben Roberts-Smith is suing over newspaper reports he took part in war crimes in Afghanistan

Australian war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith is a recipient of the country’s VCA medal (Getty)

“Hundreds” of images exist of Australian soldiers drinking out of a prosthetic leg allegedly taken from the body of a dead Afghan, a court has heard.

Lawyers for Ben Roberts-Smith said they were still processing the contents of USB drives containing hundreds of images of soldiers on a base in Afghanistan drinking at an unauthorised bar called the Fat Ladies’ Arms, news.com.au reported.

Mr Roberts-Smith has brought a defamation case against The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times newspapers over stories alleging he took part in war crimes while serving in Afghanistan.

Nine, the company that owns the newspapers, will argue a truth defence when the trial begins on Monday.

“We have been working to itemise items by Friday 4pm,” Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Matthew Richardson, told the court, according to The Guardian. “We cannot do that for hundreds of images of soldiers drinking from the leg – it’s too onerous, it’s too long.”

Mr Richardson added: “All these photos are in the possession of the respondent [Nine newspapers] because the USBs were provided by my client’s ex-wife”.

Nine has claimed the leg was taken from the body of a slain Afghan in March 2009 and used to drink beer in the bar.

Images have have previously shown Mr Roberts-Smith posing with a man drinking from the leg.

His lawyers have previously told the court he killed a Taliban soldier who used the leg, but never drank from the “disgusting” vessel himself.

However, Nine claims the leg belonged to an Afghan civilian who was shot and killed by Mr Roberts-Smith, before it was taken back to the Australian base and used as a drinking vessel.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers have claimed he shot the Afghan man, who they say was a soldier, but did not take the leg as a “souvenir” or drink from it.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing the newspapers for defamation, claiming their reports in 2018 were defamatory because they portrayed him as someone who “broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement” and committed war crimes, including murder.

He has consistently denied the allegations, which he has denounced as “false”, “baseless” and “completely without any foundation in truth”.