Former president of Rebels NT chapter identified as one of two men killed in Arnhem Hwy crash
‘He was a man who hit rock bottom and built himself back up’: Family and friends have mourned the former head of a Territory bikies gang, who had left for a better life.
A young man who left a life of violence as the head of one of the Territory’s most notorious bikie gangs has been remembered as a troubled but loyal friend after dying in a fiery highway crash.
Former Rebels NT bikies president Andy Summerfield has been identified as one of the two men who were killed in a single vehicle crash on the Arnhem Highway, 90km west of Jabiru, at 2pm Thursday.
A 27-year-old man also died in the crash.
There was only one survivor, a 20-year-old who was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries.
It is understood the three men were returning from a construction job in Jabiru when the horror crash occurred.
Arrernte Community Boxing Academy coach and fellow ex-Rebels member Shannon Althouse said he and Mr Summerfield had walked a similar dark and wild path in life, but after spending years in a cell they had chosen to turn their lives around.
Mr Althouse said despite the Mildura-man coming from a “good family” Mr Summerfield had drifted towards a life with the outlaw motorcycle gang.
“I don’t know why he led the life he did, went down the track that he did, in joining a club,” he said.
“It happens quite often. They fall off the tracks on their paths when growing up.
“But some never find their right path again and get back on their feet.”
Mr Althouse did not shy away from the violent world he and his best friend led while running the Rebels NT chapter as sergeant-at-arms and president from 2016.
But he also remembered the simpler moments; working on a trawler boat together, living as roommates, and Mr Summerfield’s accident-prone fishing trips which more than once ended with a hook lodged in his own body.
“He was the clumsiest bloke. Every time, no matter what it was, something would go wrong,” Mr Althouse chuckled.
“He’s always be the one in trouble. He’d always have a good laugh about it. We’d giggle and stuff about it.
“We were inseparable … through the good and the bad times he was always there for each other no matter what.”
But the life of a Rebel came with violence, with Mr Althouse saying Mr Summerfield saved his life in 2016 after a rival bikie gang attack left him on the street, coughing up blood with his ribs piercing his lungs.
Mr Althouse said due to a dispute with the unnamed rival they had arranged to “talk it out or punch it out” at a Yarrawonga storage facility in September.
But while Mr Althouse had his knuckles, his opponent’s weapon of choice was a HiLux.
“He’s taken off. First gear, second gear, third gear … The bloke ran me clean over,” he said.
Mr Althouse said when he came to his “whole left side of my body felt like jelly”, with Mr Summerfield carrying him to the car and then to hospital.
“If it wasn’t for Andy I would have died”.
Mr Althouse chuckled at the memory of waking up in his hospital bed and arguing with the bikie president by refusing to believe he had been in a multi-day coma.
“He was always playing pranks. So I was like ‘bulls--t I’m not falling for that one’,” he said.
This hit and run attack is believed to be part of a chain of gang-related violence which culminated in the Rebels president and sergeant-at-arms being sentenced to seven years in prison for ordering a revenge axe attack on a rival — that in a case if mistaken identity targeted the wrong man.
Mr Althouse said it was during this long prison sentence that the two men decided “enough was enough”.
“It took a big tailspin to wake us up and realised that’s not the purpose, that’s not what we want, that’s not why we’re here,” he said.
“There was talks about going back with clubs and I said ‘Look don’t be silly, when you get out just pull your head in, start doing good. You’re a good young kid, ignore all the other bulls--t’.
“I said ‘when you get out, you find yourself a nice missus, knuckle down, dedicate all your time to her and work and just do good for your life and your family’.”
Mr Althouse said “surprisingly” that was exactly what Mr Summerfield did.
Mr Summerfield had joined construction company that provided jobs to ex-prisoners – with another friend saying the ex-bikie was preparing to marry the woman who was “his world”.
“He was a man who hit rock bottom and built himself back up,” they said.
“He was a lovely, kind-hearted man who would protect all whom he cared about.”
Mr Althouse said the loved ones that surrounded Mr Summerfield allowed him to break away from the world of violence he was enmeshed in.
“The repercussions of him being a high ranking member and leaving the club … it takes a lot of heart and a just lot of strength within yourself to be able to do that.”
“He was helping ex-prisoners get employment, instead of judging them. He was actually employing them, getting them jobs and taking them out in community.
“Not only was he doing good for himself, he was actually going good for everybody.
“And then for something tragic like that to happen – it's really, really sad.”
Editor and author’s note: The NT News wishes to unreservedly apologise to the family of Mr Andy Summerfield for any distress caused, after this publication preemptively disclosed he was sadly killed in a fatal car crash on March 28, 2024. Mr Summerfield’s identity was confirmed through unreliable sources such as social media.
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Originally published as Former president of Rebels NT chapter identified as one of two men killed in Arnhem Hwy crash
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