A Darwin businessman who dated a 17-year-old hairdressing apprentice and asked a random 15-year-old out for coffee over Facebook will stay employed as a residential youth worker at Country Connect, despite concerns raised with Territory Families by sector workers on his suitability to mentor vulnerable teenagers.
VIP Litchfield Tours owner Daryl Hine first appeared in The Mango Inquirer back in early 2023, in a series of articles we published on accusations by former female housemates boarding at his Bayview residence.
While the allegations are disputed by Hine, one scenario had him appearing repeatedly in the infamous "undies in my bedroom doorway" claim.
Back in January 2023, local barrister Danial Kelly was engaged by Hine in a defamation letter-writing campaign; containing claims of $10,000 in business losses, vaguely insinuating The Mango Inquirer was responsible.
A settlement fee of $2,500 was requested to cover 'half' his legal fees, but we weren't having any of it.
The letters eventually stopped.
Hine's lawyer also targeted Facebook, corresponding directly with the social media giant, and successfully getting a number of stories blocked from viewing by Australian audiences, but not removed from our page.
The Mango Inquirer was not privy to the correspondence, nor the legal arguments put forward by Hine's lawyer to get the stories geo-blocked.
While male youth workers at Country Connect are only rostered to work with teenage males in the system; it's not good enough, as far as we're concerned.
It's our opinion Hine's background accommodating youths moving out of the system and into private accommodation at his Bayview residence creates a conflict of interest in his role as a youth worker.
Daryl Hine was contacted for comment on this story, but we were blocked.
A series of questions were put to Country Connect and Territory Families, with over a month to reply, and we got nothing but silence.
To be absolutely clear; The Mango Inquirer does not imply that Hine's romantic and social interests indicate paedophilic mannerisms.
We are The Mango Inquirer.
