EXCLUSIVE: Convicted child rapist Kent Rowe resigned from the Territory Labor Party that he ran for more than a decade because of its “toxic environment and people”, the judge sentencing Rowe for predatory sex crimes was told earlier this month.

A reference letter written by Rowe’s wife, Darwin Alderman Rebecca Want de Rowe to the Chief Justice obtained by the NT Independent, claims Rowe enjoyed a “happier and healthier” life after resigning from Labor early last year and distancing himself from the “toxic” people in the party.

Rowe, 39, was convicted in September of six counts of rape involving the repeated sexual assault of a female relative when she was a child, including anal rape and sexual assault while she slept – part of what Chief Justice Michael Grant called “predatory and reprehensible conduct” over many years.

The sentencing reference letter penned by Ms Want de Rowe also shows the level of influence and power that Rowe and his wife wielded inside the Labor Party and raises further questions about the party’s overall culture.

Rowe was secretary of the Territory Labor Party between 2013 and 2018 and played a lead role in the 2016 and 2020 election victories for the party.

He first started working for the Labor Party in 2001 and was employed by Labor-aligned marketing firm Campaign Edge Sprout between 2018 and 2020, before securing a high-level job as one of former chief minister Michael Gunner’s most senior advisers.

But Rowe was forced to resign from that role after he was identified by the NT Independent as the main player in the cocaine sex scandal early last year, that Mr Gunner said he had lied about.

That affair involved Rowe sending pictures of his penis to a local “bondage mistress”, engaging in online discussions about illicit drugs, painting portraits of dead dogs and allegedly engaging in a drug-fuelled sex romp on election night with the sex worker.

After the NT Independent named Rowe as the staffer involved, the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, contacted police to report the historical sex crimes.

In her reference letter for her husband, Ms Want de Rowe said the cocaine sex scandal was “a judgement in error while out drunk with his friends”.

“He was open and honest with me immediately and completely owned his mistake without putting any blame onto anyone else,” she wrote to Chief Justice Grant.

However, the NT Independent understands that Rowe did not immediately tell his wife about the affair – that occurred over many months following the August 2020 election night party – until the media started reporting on the scandal in February 2021, at which point he was kicked out of the familial home.

Ms Want de Rowe further told the judge that he had “agreed to relationship counselling and started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings immediately”.

“He also resigned from the Labor Party removing the toxic environment and people from his life to stay on track for a happier and healthier lifestyle,” she wrote to Justice Grant.

Ms Want de Rowe said in the letter that Rowe had been assisting “others in their recovery of drinking and started his own home cleaning business, where he has hired several people from AA who just needed someone to give them a second chance”.

“I am so very proud of him and how he has handled himself these last two years,” she wrote.

“Kent knew what he needed to do to support his family, and nothing was below him to make money, even cleaning people’s toilets.”

ASIC records do not list Rowe as the director of a cleaning company, but he is listed as a former director of Labor’s long-time campaign fundraising body Harold Nelson Holdings from December 2015 to April 2020.

Claims of toxic culture on fifth floor investigated in 2019, results unknown

Mr Gunner hired a toxic workplace specialist in late 2019 to investigate ministerial offices on the fifth floor of Parliament after allegations of illicit drug use amongst staffers was known, the NT Independent revealed in March of last year.

The toxic workplace investigation was conducted by Mr Gunner’s mate Mark Hough, a former Martin Labor government staffer who worked with Mr Gunner in the early 2000s, and the director of Darwin consulting company Managing Matters.

Mr Gunner admitted in February 2021 that he was aware of allegations of illicit drug use on the fifth floor while chief minister, but said he was never provided “any information” to substantiate the claims. He was forced to defend the party’s integrity and values at the time.

It remains unclear whether Mr Hough was tasked with investigating those allegations or what he concluded about the culture on the fifth floor, after an NT Independent FOI application was blocked by the government.

The party’s values were also called into question earlier this year when a video from October 2020 emerged of its youth wing president snorting a white substance on Snapchat. While he resigned from his role with the Federal Labor Member for Solomon, the party refused to take any action against him.

Rowe and wife lobbied Labor Government to pass legislation

Ms Want de Rowe wrote in her reference letter that she and Rowe formed an organisation called NT Surrogacy Advocacy Group “where we spent three years lobbying the NT Government for equal rights [for surrogacy] as all other jurisdictions in Australia” after experiencing a miscarriage in 2017.

“After 3 years, Kent and I’s [sic] lobbying finally resulted in legislation being passed in parliament to allow other families access to this path to parenthood,” she wrote.

“Kent has always been very supportive in my desire to help other couples become parents and has been a huge part in getting this legislation passed in parliament.”

The Gunner Government officially passed the surrogacy legislation in May of this year, with current Chief Minister Natasha Fyles heralding it as a victory for surrogacy advocates.

Rowe was charged with sexual intercourse without consent in April 2021.

According to Darwin City Council’s register of interests, Ms Want de Rowe did not renew her Territory Labor membership in September 2021.

Judge found Rowe’s conduct ‘predatory’, manipulated victim and lied for years about his sex crimes

In her reference letter, Ms Want de Rowe said Rowe as a “very hands-on father” to their two young children and a “dedicated husband”. In a separate letter, Ms Want de Rowe’s twin sister Rachelle Nathanael echoed those sentiments and said Rowe was “the uncle who stayed up late on sleepovers making the best ice-cream Sunday’s [sic] and watching movies”.

In sentencing Rowe to five years jail earlier this month, suspended after two and a half years, Chief Justice Grant said Rowe had repeatedly lied about his offences and had attempted to make the victim “feel shame” about the abuse to prevent her from disclosing it to anyone and had shown no remorse or responsibility for his crimes.

Rowe had also acted in a “calculated” way to “neutralise the risk of her making a complaint to police”, Justice Grant observed.

“You agreed to go to sexual therapy, not because of genuine commitment but because you thought it would mollify the victim and stop her from taking the matter any further,” Justice Grant said.

“You, by lies, intended to cast yourself as the victim … and the victim as the villain. It is to your great discredit and should be a matter of great shame to you although I suspect it isn’t.”

He added that Rowe’s actions had caused considerable psychological harm to the victim over many years, left a “profound and longstanding impact” on her and affected her ability to “enjoy life … without the shadow and stigma of child sexual abuse”.

The victim had earlier told the court after Rowe was convicted by a Supreme Court jury that he had made her feel like “an accomplice to my own sexual assaults” and that the incidents had left her “scared to fall asleep at night”.

“There isn’t any sentence that will give back what was taken from me or rewrite my past,” she had told the court.

Rowe will be eligible for release from prison in March 2025.