Making him his 2IC when he joined the volunteer firefighting service in about 2010, Barry said Rogerson had to resign when he was found guilty of murder in 2016.
“I put him second in charge as I needed a deputy and he was the only volunteer who had previously worn a uniform,” Barry said.
“It’s upsetting when the media focuses on all the negativity, when Roger did so much that was good.
“He was told to clean up Redfern and the Cross and he did, I don’t know too much about that but he was a good friend to my daughter who is on the NDIS and even when he was incarcerated, he became her penpal, helping keep her cognitive abilities going.”
Barry said Rogerson was always the first to get involved in fundraisers for the local community, telling a few yarns and donating books as raffle prizes for free.
“As volunteer firefighters, we used to have regular training with professional firefighters who would always look forward to a chat with Roger,” he said.
“Roger really cared about the community which they saw and he had great inter-personal skills; any training that you get these days is all done at a distance.”
Roger Rogerson was volunteer firefighter and ‘top neighbour’
VERY kind, the first to offer to help and the best neighbour you could have, is how the former Padstow Heights Community Fire Unit’s Barry remembers his long-term fellow volunteer and friend Roger Rogerson.
