A serving SAS soldier has been pressed on his own disciplinary record during the defamation trial brought by decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.
The retired Special Air Service Regiment corporal, who is one of Australia's most decorated living soldiers, is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times for defamation, having strenuously denied their assertion he'd committed murders and war crimes during his six tours of Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.
The newspapers have pleaded a truth defence and began calling witnesses last week.
Under cross-examination on Monday, a former colleague of Mr Roberts Smith’s, know only as Person 14, denied punching a United States female soldier in the face during an on-base party in Afghanistan in 2012, saying Mr Roberts-Smith pulled the other soldier away "as she was assaulting me" in an "unprovoked attack".
Person 14 further disputed the suggestion Mr Robert-Smith had jumped into a small pool to pull out the woman after she fell in.
Rather, the woman jumped in and the witness followed, he said.
Person 14 was also pressed on the reason for a suspension in 2010.
He was prevented from touring in 2010 after losing possession of a hard drive with unclassified images of him on patrol, he testified.
His estranged wife, who he was divorcing, entered his home, took the drive and threatened to go to the media if he didn't pay her about $50,000, he said.
"I self-reported to the unit and SO (special operations) Command legal," he said, saying he later accepted a charge of disobeying a lawful general order.
Person 14 also clarified his earlier suggestion war hero Ben Roberts-Smith threw an Afghan man onto the ground and shot him a close range.
The Federal Court previously heard the alleged shooting involving a soldier armed with a FN Minimi 89 automatic had occurred during a 2009 mission.
Person 14 had told the court that later in the mission, about 500 metres from the site of the shooting, he saw Mr Roberts-Smith armed with a Minimi.
Today under cross-examination, the witness said he hadn't tried to suggest that weapon was "the" weapon used in the alleged war crime.
"No, I'm not suggesting that," Person 14 said.
He said there were "potentially" other Minimis carried by members of Mr Roberts-Smith's patrol.
The shooting is said by three newspapers to have happened outside a Taliban compound dubbed Whiskey 108, killing an unarmed Afghan man who had a prosthetic leg that was later taken back to the SAS's base in Afghanistan.
Person 14 said he watched from a distance as an Australian soldier - wearing camouflage paint used by the six members of Mr Roberts-Smith's patrol - fire for about one second into the man while two other Australians stood by.
"I turned to my 2IC and said 'What the hell was that?'" he testified on Friday.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies the newspapers' version of events, saying his shooting at Whiskey 108 was of a rifle-wielding insurgent and within the rules of engagement.
The witness's cross-examination resumes on Tuesday.
With SBS News.
