Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Ben Roberts-Smith Case | Philip Dunn KC

Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Ben Roberts-Smith Case | Philip Dunn KC

From Real Crime with Adam Shand by Podshape

April 28, 2026 · 39 min · Season 1 · Episode 73

About this episode

The episode discusses the legal implications of the Ben Roberts-Smith case with insights from criminal defense barrister Philip Dunn KC.

He is Australia's most decorated living soldier — a Victoria Cross recipient charged with the alleged murder of five unarmed Afghan detainees. But does losing a civil defamation case make Ben Roberts-Smith a convicted war criminal? Adam Shand thinks not, and he's found one of the country's most experienced criminal defence barristers to explain why. Philip Dunn KC has spent a career in the criminal courts defending the highest-profile cases in Australian legal history. In this episode, he unpacks the critical difference between a finding on the balance of probabilities and the far higher bar of proof beyond reasonable doubt — and why confusing the two is dangerous. He also examines the dramatic and arguably prejudicial arrest of Roberts-Smith, the extraordinary use of four indemnified witnesses, the absence of forensic evidence and the very real threat that relentless media coverage poses to a fair trial. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Adam Shand

Guest: Philip Dunn KC

Topics covered

  • war crimes
  • defamation
  • legal analysis
  • media coverage
  • criminal defense

Keywords

  • Ben Roberts-Smith
  • defamation case
  • criminal defense
  • media coverage
  • war crimes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Victoria Cross

Places: Australia, Afghanistan

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