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The arrival of a silver Audi SUV at Silverwater Correctional Complex was the first sign of movement.
For hours, a growing media pack had patiently waited outside the jail for a glimpse of Australia’s most decorated living soldier, seen only fleetingly since his arrest on war crimes charges on April 7.
When Ben Roberts-Smith’s girlfriend, Sarah Matulin, drove through the camera flashes and approached the designated pickup point for released inmates, the moment seemed to have arrived.
But as reporters and photographers readied themselves, a cunning plan involving Corrective Services NSW officers to whisk Roberts-Smith out of the sprawling complex and away from the cameras was under way.
Throughout Friday, inmates released from Silverwater had discarded their prison greens, collected a small bag of personal belongings and trudged out of the western Sydney facility.
None were escorted out, and all were forced to make the long walk past the media pack on foot; no special treatment was offered. The same could not be said for the accused murderer.
Long before Judge Greg Grogin granted the 47-year-old bail during an hours-long hearing in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, arrangements were being made to help Roberts-Smith give the media the slip.
A longstanding agreement allows media to wait at a designated point near the prison’s main entrance. Corrective Services NSW officers throughout the day asked members of the media, who obliged, to remain on grassed areas either side of the entry and exit to the facility and clear of nearby footpaths. Maintaining that position, they said, would ensure the safety of both the media and Roberts-Smith as he left the complex.
But just after 5.30pm – about 30 minutes after Matulin had driven into the gated section of the prison – officers formed a convoy and began escorting the disgraced former Special Air Service corporal out the back exit. Footage shows a vehicle carrying several Corrective Services officers preparing to escort Roberts-Smith from the facility.
Shortly after, several vehicles followed Roberts-Smith, sitting in the passenger seat of an Audi Q7 being driven by Matulin, out of the facility and along Jamieson Street – a public road – bordering Silverwater’s eastern perimeter. As Roberts-Smith left the complex, a white 4WD blocked off Jamieson Street, which leads to a public park on the banks of the Parramatta River, to prevent the 47-year-old from being followed. Footage shows the 4WD leaving the complex at the head of the convoy.
Media tracked Roberts-Smith’s exit via a live chopper feed. The Herald, suspecting the 47-year-old may try to evade media, was positioned on Jamieson Street as the 47-year-old’s taxpayer-funded vehicle approached. Several Herald photographers positioned at the front of the complex captured Matulin’s entrance and tracked the convoy’s exit.
As Roberts-Smith’s vehicle approached the end of Jamieson Street, a black ute that had exited Silverwater behind him veered off the road and into the path of the Herald’s moving vehicle, blocking it. As the Herald tried to manoeuvre around the vehicle, photographer Sam Mooy, dashed towards Roberts-Smith, capturing an iconic photograph of the accused murderer.
Mooy captured several exclusive images of Roberts-Smith and Matulin as they sat at an intersection, inadvertently blocked by a vehicle waiting to turn right, despite two Corrective Services officers attempting to stop him photographing the 47-year-old. The Herald did not block Roberts-Smith’s path.
Footage of the interaction shows one officer physically pushing Mooy’s camera as she blocks his line of sight. “Stop, stop, you can’t take pictures,” an officer shouted.
After the Audi Roberts-Smith was travelling in turned left onto Holker Street towards Olympic Park, a convoy of several other cars followed the 47-year-old, attempting to stop media outlets from photographing him.
The white ute carrying the officers who had tried to block Mooy’s path escorted Roberts-Smith for several minutes after he had left the vicinity of the complex.
The Herald has put several questions about Roberts-Smith’s departure from Silverwater to Corrective Services NSW. Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong was contacted for comment.
Roberts-Smith, who faces five counts of war crime – murder over the alleged killing of unarmed Afghan detainees, is required to report to police three times a week under strict bail conditions.
Roberts-Smith and Matulin did not fly out of Sydney on Friday night, instead they drove north for several hours. Roberts-Smith will next face court on June 5.
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