SAS whistleblower could not ignore war crime allegation against Ben Roberts-Smith, court hears

Witness tells defamation trial he knew appearing on 60 Minutes in 2019 breached defence force rules but does not regret it

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An SAS whistleblower who spoke to the media about a war crime allegedly committed by Ben Roberts-Smith has told the federal court he knew he was defying orders in doing so, but felt he couldn't walk past such an egregious" allegation.

A soldier anonymised as Person 7, a still-serving SAS veteran of multiple deployments to Afghanistan with the SAS, spent a second day under cross-examination in Roberts-Smith's defamation case on Thursday. He was questioned extensively about his service alongside Roberts-Smith and their fractious relationship.