Crown witness in case against paedophile ring found in shallow grave

The 17-year-old from Sydney was scheduled to give evidence against a paedophile ring three days after he went missing.

When NRL great Ian Roberts, then known as one of the best front-rowers in the world, first met Arron Light, the latter was just nine years old.

In that moment, he could never have predicted that less than a decade later, Aaron would be discovered in a shallow grave, the victim of a brutal murder that to this day remains unsolved.

“I was living in Camperdown in Sydney at the time, and he was in the children’s hospital nearby,” he told Gary Jubelin’s I Catch Killers podcast.

“He was being treated for complications to do with a knee surgery, and he’d been in hospital for quite some time.”

Roberts, who had gone in for a visit as part of his NRL team’s outreach program, was taken by the young child’s sense of humour and wisdom beyond his years.

Murder victim Arron James Light in undated copy photo, his skeleton was found in Sydenham with multiple stab wounds.

The crime scene in St Peters where Arron Light's body was found.

“He began poking fun at all the players, saying we were only coming to visit for publicity, having a bit of fun,” he recalls fondly, “he was a cheeky little kid.”

Roberts, who jokingly told Arron he’d come back and visit “just to annoy you,” struck up a friendship with the boy over the following weeks.

“He was in hospital for at least a few months,” he recalls, “and over that time I’d pop in every couple of weeks to say G’day.”

Over the coming years, Roberts became something of a mentor to Arron, who he’d check in with periodically.

Then, in the mid-nineties, by which stage Arron was a young teen, Roberts bumped into him on the street, and learned he’d been sleeping rough in Kings Cross.

Keen to help Arron get back on his feet, Roberts would invite him to NRL matches and meet up with the teenager regularly – eventually allowing him to move into his home.

“One night he rang me – he was very upset,” the sportsman recalls, “I asked him where he was – he was in his squat in Bondi, and it was not good. I just told him: ‘grab your stuff mate, you can come and live with us for a while.’ We had a spare bedroom, and I was with my partner Shane, so we kind of just decided he could stay with us as long as he went to school.”

Former rugby league star Ian Roberts arriving to give evidence to the Arron Light inquiry at Glebe Coroner's Court in Sydney. Picture: News Limited

Over the coming months, Roberts tried to provide Arron with more stability – insisting he kept in touch with his parents, training with him in the gym and offering a positive example of authority in his life.

Roberts, who had recently come out as gay, was aware that the presence of a young teen in his life may attract suspicion.

“He knew I was gay, and he had no problem with me or my partner,” says Roberts, “but I was very keen for him to keep in touch with his parents, so his parents knew everything that was going on. What people struggle to understand was that it wasn’t just an act of kindness – this young guy was actually my friend.”

For a while, things seemed to be going well in the young teen’s life, who’d get up and catch two buses to school at Vaucluse High each morning.

Then, Roberts got a phone call from police.

“They told me that the house had been under surveillance, and my head was spinning.”

Police explained that Arron had been seen going into suspected pedophiles’ houses before coming to live with Roberts. They told him “that’s how he’d been supporting himself.”

“And this put you in a difficult situation,” suggests Jubelin.

“I’d just come out,” explains Roberts, “I was worried that people were going to surmise what they think had happened.”

Coroner Jacqueline Milledge surveying the scene (with left: Crime scene Mgr. Clint Nicol and (R) Ron Hoenig/Counsel Assisting) where Arron Light's body was found.

Police, who had quickly cleared Ian as a suspect, asked him to try and convince Arron to make a formal statement about the pedophiles who had abused him.

Roberts, who was plagued by worry about how his friendship with Arron would be perceived, encouraged him to co-operate with police. He says it’s one of his biggest regrets.

“I wish so much that I’d just told them to leave him alone, that he was happy and doing well and didn’t need to go back and talk about all that stuff. I honestly think if I’d done that, he’d still be alive now.”

Shortly after convincing Arron to work with police to expose the alleged pedophile ring he’d been a victim of, Roberts was offered a contract in Townsville, and moved away.

Aaron, who was hurt and angry at the distance Roberts had put between them, went rapidly downhill. The last time Roberts heard his voice, it was 1997.

“I got a phone call from a policeman telling me that Arron had been arrested again for stealing,” he says. “And he wouldn’t talk to police, the only person he’d talk to was me. So they phoned me up and put him on and I was trying to calm him down. But he was screaming and he was angry at me by that stage as well. He was entitled to be that way. It just felt like he was alone. He was saying that stuff. He was seeing a lawyer I’d put him in touch with, and I just … I just tried to convince him to co-operate with the police. He disappeared three days later. He was due to give evidence [against the alleged pedophile ring] three days later, and he just never showed up in court.”

Former NRL hardman Ian Roberts. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

It would be another five years until Arron’s body was found. Believed to have been stabbed, his bones were discovered by construction workers digging a trench along the Alexandria canal in St Peters.

“It’s awful, even the way they discovered that it was Arron,” continues Roberts, “It was the knee. His knee, because he had such complications when I first met him in hospital, his knee had become quite deformed. It was like a bulbous type of thing. That’s how they discovered it was him.”

An inquest into Arron’s death found there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with Arron’s murder.

NSW deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge presided over the inquest into Arron’s death.

She concluded that 17-year-old Arron died between September 12 and September 18, 1997, in an unknown Sydney location.

“The cause of death is multiple stab wounds,” she said.

“The manner of death is homicide by a person or persons unknown.

“At the time of his death, Arron Light was 17-years-old and was a Crown witness in an impending district court trial.”

For Roberts, the pain of Arron’s loss, as well as the guilt that plagues him, are wounds that will never heal.

“Regret’s not a big enough word,” he tells Gary Jubelin sadly, “but I just know now that I really let him down.”

“I thought I was okay with this,” he continues, clearly emotional, “but just talking about it now, it’s just like I really let him down. From the person he trusted, he loved me, he so respected me and cared about me. I just let him down.”

Originally published as Crown witness in case against paedophile ring found in shallow grave