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Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Sam Rodgers Matthew Albert

A second year apprentice on the building site run by Maurie Ryan, Sam was a quiet, unassuming boy who often found himself on the end of practical jokes. When Bill Kennedy got some work on the site, in order to pay off debts after his workshop was broken into, he was horrified at the way Sam was treated. When Sam revealed an injury on his arm one day and explained that it was the result of the boys attacking him with a nail gun, Bill tried to speak to Maurie. Maurie claimed that Sam was the main culprit in all of this and was just glad to have found someone new to believe his stories. Meanwhile, Sam was growing increasingly disillusioned with his treatment on the site and decided to jack in his apprenticeship and get a job as a labourer. When Bill heard about this, he convinced Sam to stick with it, as his apprenticeship would be worth it in the end.

That same day, Sam was working on the roof of the building and he asked Maurie for a safety harness. Maurie explained that it was on another site, and was a waste of time, as Sam wouldn’t be that high up anyway. Unfortunately, Sam lost his footing and fell, landing badly on his back. He was rushed to hospital, while Maurie managed to cover up the mistake and told Bill that Sam couldn’t have any visitors at the hospital. When Bill’s sister, Libby, started investigating the accident for the local paper, she found out that Maurie was involved in some very dodgy practices, but Bill wouldn’t listen. When she then found out that Maurie had lied about Sam being unable to receive visitors, Bill went to the hospital. Sam explained that he’d wanted to use a harness but there hadn’t been one, he also told Bill that it was possible that he’d never walk again. The whole thing finally made Bill realise that he couldn’t go on working for Maurie and he reported him.

Biography by Steve

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