THE brother of killer Katherine Knight - the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole - has been charged with historical sexual and indecent assault offences against two boys while working as a youth worker at Muswellbrook and Gateshead.
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Neville Roughan, listed in court as Neville Joseph Knight, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Friday charged with 15 offences, including three counts of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 16 and five counts of supplying a prohibited drug.
Mr Roughan, 71, of Marks Point, was arrested about 7.40am on Thursday after a lengthy investigation from Lake Macquarie detectives attached to Strike Force Eiraban, which formed in November last year to investigate allegations of child sexual offences against two teenage boys between 1990 and 2004 in Muswellbrook and Gateshead.
Detectives allege those offences occurred while Mr Roughan was employed as a youth worker.
The court heard Mr Roughan had some connection to disgraced former Swansea MP Milton Orkopoulos, who was jailed in 2008 for 13 years and eight months for child sexual assault and drug supply offences.
Orkopoulos has since been charged again with similar offences and is currently in custody waiting to get a trial date in Newcastle District Court.
The connection, through Mr Roughan's now deceased brother Patrick Roughan, the former Swansea ALP branch president who was acquitted of child sexual assault in 2008, was raised as part of a bail application for Mr Roughan and police prosecutor Lyn Palywoda said Neville Roughan's name was "quiet significantly raised at the Royal Commission into this type of offending".
"That [mention of a connection to Orkopolous in the police facts] is there to show that this is a much bigger matter than what is before you," Sergeant Palywoda told Magistrate Brett Thomas.
Sergeant Palywoda said a further two alleged victims had come forward overnight to make allegations against Mr Roughan, while Mr Roughan had allegedly disclosed something about another alleged victim during a discussion with police.
Knight was the first Australian woman sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for stabbing her partner John Price 37 times with a butcher's knife, skinning him and cooking parts of his flesh in 2000.
As part of a bail application, Mr Roughan's solicitor, Jacob Tate, said Knight's notoriety could make Mr Roughan's time in jail difficult, but Sergeant Palywoda said the nature of the charges against Mr Roughan would do that themselves.
Mr Tate also said Mr Roughan's age, mental and physical health conditions and the time he would have to wait in custody for a trial meant he should be granted conditional bail.