Richard Roe inquest exposes ‘underbelly of Darwin’ within murky world of drug dealers
The family of a footymad Territory dad has been ‘alarmed’ by the secret life of drugs and violence within the ‘underworld of Darwin’, hearing rumours of bikies, machetes, barrels and debt-related attacks.
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‘Rumours’ and whispers from the murky underworld of Darwin’s drug scene have been exposed in a coronial inquest for the Territory’s $250,000 man.
Family members of Richard Roe have waited eight years to hear why the 40-year-old footy-mad father vanished near Lake Bennett in 2016.
Mr Roe was last seen trying to flag down motorists for fuel on November 2, after his 2004 Holden Commodore station wagon broke down on the side of the Stuart Highway.
It took almost a month for a missing persons report to be filed.
Despite an extensive search through the thick bushlands during the Wet Season build-up, no sign of Mr Roe was ever uncovered.
Over three days the coronial has exposed the “Underbelly of Darwin” hidden from even his closest loved ones, with references to Hells Angels, Rebels bikies and looming figures known only as ‘The Asian’ and ‘Fish and Chips man’.
On Thursday, cold case Detective Senior Constable Glen Chatto told coroner Stephen Geary there were two main theories around Mr Roe’s disappearance: either the drug-affected man wandered away from the car and perished in the bush, or he was murdered.
He said Mr Roe was one of a handful of missing Territorians with a cash reward for information, including Angie Fuller, Paddy Moriarty, Peter Falconio and Norman Lawson.
“When we offer a reward there’s probably a suspicious element to it,” Mr Chatto said.
Counsel assisting the coroner Sally Ozolins alleged that at the time, Mr Roe was working as a drug dealer and debt collector for a man known as “The Asian”.
One of the first witnesses Jeffrey Kenneth Drennan — of Filipino heritage — denied Mr Roe sold drugs for him, was his drug debt collector or that the 40-year-old had racked up $15,000 in debt.
“I don’t let him because I don’t really trust him when it comes to money,” the convicted former-meth dealer said.
But Mr Drennan said in June 2016 he gave Mr Roe around $800 worth of ice and $450 in cash, with his car left behind as “collateral”.
The coronial heard multiple witnesses claiming Mr Roe owed “an Asian fella” around $15,000, but Dr Drennan denied this.
Ms Ozolins asked Mr Drennan if it was common practice “in your business” to let debts in excess of $15,000 go unpaid.
“Yep,” Mr Drennan replied.
Ms Ozolins said at the time of the initial investigation, Mr Drennan was asked by police “did you kill Richard Roe?”.
At the time he replied: “I don’t think so”.
Eight years later Mr Drennan said this response may have been due to language barriers, and flatly denied killing Mr Roe.
A former rural area drug dealer Wayne Purtell — who was one of the last people to see Mr Roe alive — told the court he had heard Mr Roe “owed this Asian fella money … $15 (thousand) or something”.
Mr Purtell denied knowing Mr Drennan, despite Ms Ozolins pointing to conversations he allegedly told him to “control your debt collector”.
Ms Ozolins said Mr Drennan allegedly replied “Richard Roe is going to get it”.
She told Mr Purtell the inquest had received evidence “you had a fight and, in fact, Richard Roe could be buried at your property”.
“No way … that’s a rumour,” he replied.
“People will probably say anything. I swear, I swear on my life that’s all rumour.
“People talk s—t.”
The coroner heard Mr Roe and his girlfriend hid a black bag containing a large bottle of ‘meth oil’ behind an ant hill near where he disappeared at Lake Bennett.
“You didn’t kill Richard Roe over a bottle of meth oil?,” she asked.
“No. I didn’t even know about any meth oil until police mentioned it,” Mr Purtell said.
Mr Roe’s girlfriend at the time, Margaret Hewitt, confirmed to the coroner their ice-dependency turned Mr Roe from a “loving caring, good man” into a “paranoid” boyfriend.
Ms Hewitt said Mr Roe would often drive around for long distances after only putting $10 in the tank — she had run out of fuel twice while with him — and he was known to go wandering and get “disorientated”.
She said before his disappearance, Mr Roe took her to Lake Bennett, where he asked her to hide a black bag behind an “ant hill”.
Ms Hewitt said she was later approached by Wayne Sultan and they went to collect it, finding a large bottle of liquid meth “stashed in the bush”.
“I now know why Richard was so on edge,” Ms Hewitt said.
Mr Sultan, who gave evidence by prison video link, initially claimed he did not know what “meth oil” or “meth water” was, but later confirmed he took the bottle to Brendan Daly’s home “to test it”.
“It would be worth money,” he said.
Mr Daly told the coroner Mr Sultan came to his house with a large sulfuric acid bottle, but soon walked off yelling “It’s not even f—king meth”.
Mr Daly said he “threw away” the bottle, saying it was “dangerous”.
“Can you imagine rumours all around town that I had all this bloody gear all stashed at my house?” he said.
Two witnesses, Jason Chalker and Peter Reid, told the coroner they heard “rumours” Mr Roe had been killed.
“(Richard) is in barrels. He owed a bit of money to the boys,” Mr Chalker was allegedly told.
Mr Reid said before Mr Roe vanished he was convinced “someone was after him”, saying he owed money to both the Hells Angels and Rebels bikie gangs.
He said he’d been told “Richard was inside a barrel with the machete used to hack him up”, and his body was in the Adelaide River.
Even after the three-day inquest, both the cold case detective and Mr Roe’s family called for the $250,000 reward to be increased in the hope some light could be shed on his disappearance.
Outside court Theresa Roe said the contrast between the man she knew as her cousin, a loved footy-mad father with an addiction, and the world described in the coronial was “alarming”.
“To listen and hear about the underbelly of Darwin is really significant,” she said.
“I think there’s an epidemic here that we’re probably not aware of.
“This ice and meth doesn’t discriminate.
“Richard was a beautiful, lovely person. But when people get addicted to drugs it changes them.”
Ms Roe said she believed her cousin’s disappearance was a homicide.
Her voice shaking as she said: “We won’t get closure till we find Richard, where his body is.”
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