![DOING TIME: Rodney Da Silva, who is serving 15 years’ jail. DOING TIME: Rodney Da Silva, who is serving 15 years’ jail.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/silverstone-feed-data/c41d8256-d869-4e75-9e67-43e09914ba5b.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
BROTHERS Rodney and Roy Da Silva were close growing up in Argenton. They told each other almost everything.
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They fought as kids, like brothers do, but as they entered adulthood both Da Silva brothers were using drugs and took different paths to secure the funds necessary to feed their habits.
Court documents reveal that both brothers had brushes with the law, but it was Rodney who wandered down the dangerous path of drug dealing and armed robbery that eventually fractured the brothers’ relationship and placed Roy’s life in danger.
Roy was shot by Rodney’s close mate Michael Rae at Islington in July last year after more than two years of alleged harassment and threats towards Roy and his partner.
Roy told police he endured innumerable threats at all hours of the day and night and even had a gun pointed at his head on one occasion because of his decision to testify against his brother at a trial.
But more of that later.
The Da Silva boys grew up in the family home in Montgomery Street, Argenton, a home that both brothers would return to at various times during their adult years.
Roy, who was introduced to heroin at age 16, told police that Rodney was also a drug user and dealer by the time he was in his early 20s. They would often ‘‘blue’’ when Rodney was ‘‘speeding’’, according to Roy.
They had a massive blue when Rodney, who was living at Edgeworth at the time, went away and Roy didn’t water the cannabis plants that Rodney was growing in the back shed. Roy told police that Rodney’s ‘‘hydro’’ set-up was none of his business and he wasn’t going to look after it for his brother.
But it was in late 2006 and early 2007 when the relationship began to fray.
Both boys were back living at Montgomery Street when Roy got out of bed one morning in early January 2007 and saw a blood-spattered sports bag containing police clothing and a shotgun in Rodney’s room.
Rodney had shot and robbed Belmont North butcher David Reid on December 27, 2006, after posing as a police officer. Rodney and two accomplices, one of whom had been sacked by Reid for stealing from the butchery, knew Reid had a large amount of cash in his house that he hadn’t banked following the busy Christmas period.
Rodney, armed with a shotgun, and one of his co-offenders, armed with a machete, knocked on Reid’s door and stated that they were police officers. Before Reid opened the door, Rodney fired a shot that struck Reid. He then shot him a second time. Reid suffered horrific injuries to one of his hands and his stomach.
The accomplice threatened Reid’s partner with a machete before being led to about $25,000 in cash.
The accomplices pleaded guilty, but police needed more evidence to secure a conviction against Rodney. Roy initially lied for his brother and helped him avoid questioning from detectives, police statements reveal, but as time went by, Roy’s conscience got the better of him.
The ordeal Reid and his family went through received much publicity.
Roy was battling heroin addiction at the time and had to leave the house to ‘‘get on’’ (buy and take drugs) after Rodney disclosed some details about the robbery to him.
Roy later told police that he had a $200-a-day habit, but he was working most of the time and Rodney was dealing a lot of drugs. Roy was able to get drugs for ‘‘next to nothing’’ from Rodney, he told police.
About a week after the robbery, Roy walked in on Rodney cleaning a large amount of cash in the bathtub using bleach and water. Rodney said it was to get rid of any DNA on the notes. He then dried the cash using a fan heater.
One thing Rodney’s accomplices didn’t know was that, during the robbery, Rodney had snatched $5000 from a drawer and stuffed it in his pocket. He did not hand it over when the trio divvied up the takings.
Roy’s conscience continued to nag away at him.
‘‘Every time that I read something in the paper I struggle with coming forward and telling the police,’’ one of Roy’s statements reads.
‘‘I don’t want to do that any more.’’
Rodney was arrested and charged and when Roy’s statements to police were served on him the harassment and threats began.
Roy said he was already scared of his brother after years of witnessing his drug use and hearing of Rodney’s ‘‘jobs’’ around town and his access to weapons, but now he had even greater concerns.
Rodney was released from custody in late 2008, allowing him to deliver the abuse and threats to Roy’s face.
Rodney’s former girlfriend Tegan Carroll was now going out with Michael Rae but the trio were as tight as ever and Roy told police that they were intimidating and threatening him.
Roy said he and his partner received telephone calls at night from people threatening to kill him and rape his partner. He moved house and was hopeful that he would be left alone, but it wasn’t to be.
One morning in February 2009, Roy saw Rae sitting in a car near Roy’s house. Roy told police that he got in his car and chased Rae, who was in a Subaru, around the Edgeworth area.
During the chase, Roy thought Rae was brandishing a gun when he stuck his arm out of the Subaru.
Roy ducked and hit the accelerator instead of the brake before ramming into Rae’s car then ploughing into a house.
Roy was unable to extricate his car from the living room of the house and was worried that he had hit someone. No one was injured, but when Roy went to the front of the house he claimed that Rae tried to attack him with a hammer and a shifting spanner. He said that he was able to disarm Rae and that a witness kept them apart. Police arrived swiftly.
On another occasion at Edgeworth, Roy claimed that a pistol was pointed at his head.
On July 16 last year, Rae confronted Roy at Islington and shot him in the thigh as Roy tried to run away.
Rae was initially charged with attempted murder, but he pleaded guilty last week to shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He will be sentenced later this year.
As for Rodney, the evidence Roy gave was pivotal and resulted in a jury convicting Rodney of the robbery and shooting. He is serving 15 years’ jail while his accomplices are serving 19-year sentences.
Tegan Carroll has pleaded guilty to concealing a serious offence by assisting Rae in the hours after he shot Roy. She is awaiting sentence.