This is the Guardian.

Hi, it's Michael Safi here, unusually on a Saturday, but for a good reason.

Today, we're playing the first part of a special series from our colleagues at Guardian

Australia. It's called Ben Robert Smith vs. The Media. It's the story of one of the most

extraordinary legal cases you'll ever hear about. Australia's most decorated living soldier,

Ben Robert Smith, is suing three Australian newspapers that he says have damaged his reputation.

By falsely suggesting he committed war crimes. In this case, no matter the outcome,

we'll likely have huge ramifications for some of Australia's most respected journalists and

newspapers, or for the military, and a man who has been venerated as a modern war hero.

Guardian Australia reporter Ben Doherty has been watching the defamation trial and each episode

he'll be taking you through what happened inside that courtroom. You can find the rest of

the series by searching for Ben Robert Smith vs. The Media, wherever you listen to this podcast.

And before we start, a heads up. There are descriptions of conflict and violence that some listeners

might find distressing.

You're about to hear evidence as said in court read by voice actors.

The evidence has been edited in some respects for time and ease of listening, but remains an

accurate representation of those sections of the trial. It was overcast. I think it may have been

slightly rainy. It's last light on the 12th of April 2009. We stepped off from our vehicles,

we moved down into what is referred to as the green. The grass through the green was approximately

wasted, chest high in places. In the Eruzgan province of southern Afghanistan, an insurgent stronghold,

known as Whiskey 108 has been bombed by Allied aircraft, ahead of a raid by Australian SAS soldiers.

I was to clear buildings in the vicinity of the Whiskey, the building that was deemed Whiskey 108.

...