Nine wins and Ben Roberts-Smith loses in defamation finale

Ben Roberts-Smith has lost an appeal against a 2023 defamation ruling, with the full bench of the federal court again finding he was not defamed by Nine newspapers, who reported the soldier had committed war crimes while in Afghanistan.

This brings to an era a seven-year saga, sparked by 2018 reports from Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters in Nine newspapers that alleged that Roberts-Smith murdered four civilians while deployed in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith sued the media company for defamation, with his case funded by Seven chairman Kerry Stokes.