Fourteen-year-old Kenneth Rogan has been out of detention in Darwin for six months now, and has just been accepted into a mechanics course as part of his schooling.
He is expected to give evidence at the Royal Commission that he was stripped naked at knifepoint by guards while he was detained in Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.
But his father, Colin Rogan, has told NITV the family has been getting death threats because of the evidence the teenager plans to give.
“We got this call out of the blue the other night, and the man said ‘Are you Kenneth Rogan’s dad?’ Then he said, ‘You tell that little dog c*** I’m going to cut his f****** throat when I see him, and I’ll be catching up with him shortly’,” Colin Rogan said.
“And then he turned the threats onto the both of us, saying ‘I’ll kill you both while you’re asleep’.”
Colin Rogan provided notes to police detailing his phone conversation with the caller. Source: NITV News/Elliana Lawford
“It’s really freaked us out, I don’t want to see anyone harm my kid,” he said.
The Northern Territory police are investigating the incident, and have told the Rogans they should be able to track who made the phone call.
When filing his report, Colin Rogan told police he thought the person making the threats was someone with authority because of how they spoke, and he asked the officer, “what if it’s one of your own making these threats?”
He said the officer assured him whoever it was would be charged.
Colin Rogan has told NITV his son Kenneth rarely leaves the house anymore, for fear of running into people that don’t want him to give evidence.
“There are a lot of people out there who aren’t happy that all this stuff is coming out."
Mr Rogan explained Kenneth now stays at home most of the time.
"He especially knows not to go out at night-time just in case, because you never know what might happen,” Mr Rogan said.
“When Kenneth got out last time, he was a different boy. Something happened to him in there that really scared him and he won’t tell me what it was.”
Kenneth Rogan became entangled in the justice system when he was just 10-years-old, for a series of crimes he committed with a group of older boys, including theft.
Kenny Rogan at his home in Darwin Source: NITV News/Elliana Lawford
The Rogan family are concerned he is now targeted by authorities.
“Late last year two paddy wagons came here to arrest Kenny again, saying they saw him in a stolen car, but he was in bed asleep in the same room as his cousins,” Colin Rogan said.
“Then they also tried to throw another charge on him, break and enter.”
The family spent months fighting those charges, which were later thrown out of court when the judge ruled in Kenneth’s favour.
The family now hopes the police can find the person making the threatening calls so they can move forward.
But the threats have forced Kenneth to reconsider how he will give evidence to the Royal Commission, and he said he might provide written statements rather than go to the Supreme Court in person.
