Jamie McKinnell

That document also contains a summary at the end of what it says are common themes.

It's part of the beginning of this case coming together, but it was really an insight into what the nature of these allegations are and how the Crown might seek to stack them up in the future.

Well, we know so far already that there are five counts of the war crime of murder.

We know that they relate to his time in Afghanistan on deployment in the years 2009 and 2012.

But that document went into a bit more detail about the alleged war crime murders, including that the deceased men were Afghan civilians who were under the control of Australian soldiers at the time of their deaths.

And allegations that they were shot by Mr. Robert Smith or by a subordinate soldier under his orders.

The alleged facts also outline, as I said, some common themes and they listed those common themes as things like each deceased person was an unarmed person at the time.

They were in a location where Ben Robert Smith could reasonably have suspected insurgents could be located.

And it appears, Stocky, as well, there is overlap between these allegations and what was heard in the defamation case that Mr Robert Smith lost against Nine.

But the difference, obviously, that we have to keep pointing out here and is really important is that that defamation case resulted in this federal court ruling that allegations of four war crime murders were substantially true, but it was a finding made on the balance of probabilities, so the lower civil standard.

And that is a different test to what's currently before the courts in this criminal setting.

In the criminal setting, prosecutors are going to need to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt.

So there are similarities between the allegations, but it is a completely different test before the court now.

That was a judge alone.

So it was Justice Anthony Bersanko.

But the other difference here is that because these are Commonwealth charges that Ben Robert Smith is facing in a criminal court, there's not an option for a judge alone trial.

It has to be before a jury and it will also have to be a unanimous verdict.

So there's not an option to go to a majority verdict if

a long time down the track, a jury, sometimes if they get stuck, they're given the option of having 11 to 1 instead of a unanimous verdict.

So that's another really key difference here.