Australia's most decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been spotted leaving Queenstown — weeks after a judge found claims he committed war crimes were substantially true.
Roberts-Smith was seen boarding a business-class flight with his girlfriend at the popular holiday hotspot, Nine's A Current Affair reports.
It's believed he was returning to his home in Brisbane.
Ben Roberts-Smith was seen boarding a business-class flight in Queenstown. (Source: 1News)
His sighting in Aotearoa comes as the high-profile soldier failed in a defamation lawsuit against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times and a handful of journalists, who alleged he took part in unlawful killings in Afghanistan.
The disgraced soldier was notably absent from his June 1 court hearing, where the decision was handed down.
The former SAS corporal and Victoria Cross recipient was found to have gunned down an unarmed prisoner in the back, taking his prosthetic leg back to Australia to use as a beer-drinking vessel.
He also stood silent while a new soldier was ordered to execute an elderly prisoner so he could be "blooded".
Another allegation says Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed and handcuffed man off a cliff and then ensured he was shot — the judge found this to be true.
He took the man's cuffs off, planting a radio next to him and making a comrade stick to a story that the man was a spotter.
"The applicant has motives to lie, being a financial motive to support his claim for damages in these proceedings, a motive to restore his reputation, which he contends has been destroyed by the publication of the articles and significantly, a motive to resist findings against him which may affect whether further action is taken against him," the judge said.
"I am satisfied that the respondents have laid out a defence of contextual truth with respect to that imitation," he said.
"In light of my conclusions, each proceeding must be dismissed."
The trial lasted 110 days in the Federal Court, with 41 witnesses giving evidence. Many had their identities suppressed for security reasons.
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