Today, the High Court of Australia refused an application by Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG for special leave to appeal the judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia in Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications (Appeal) [2025] FCAFC 67 (Perram, Katzmann and Kennett J). In that judgment, the Full Court unanimously upheld the 2023 trial judgment of Besanko J which found, on the balance of probabilities, that Mr Roberts-Smith committed or was complicit in the murders of four Afghan prisoners while serving as a member of the Australian Army in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2012.
The High Court today also refused Mr Roberts-Smith’s applications for special leave to appeal two related interlocutory judgments of the Full Court, both of which concerned an unsuccessful attempt by Mr Roberts-Smith to re-open his appeal to the Full Court to adduce new evidence.
The High Court held that none of the applications for special leave raised a question of legal principle and the proposed appeals had insufficient prospects of success. All three applications were dismissed with costs.
John Sheahan KC, Robert Yezerski SC, and Christopher Mitchell appeared for the respondents in the special leave applications in the High Court, and in the application to re-open the substantive appeal before the Full Court.
Christopher Mitchell also appeared for the respondents at trial and on the substantive appeal before the Full Court.