That's totally weird, the Range Switch and lever on a gen1 Rogue are on
top of the transmission and no tow equipment should go anywhere near them. I've never actually seen one of those cables fail, either. Sounds to me more like he broke the shifter assembly, those are plastic. It's also possible he broke the horseshoe clip (Green) or somehow loosened the retaining nut at the transmission (pull the airbox to see it). There is a plastic insert on the cable (Red) which attaches it to the nose of the shifter, they're pretty tough but I guess it's possible he broke that. If so, then you're right and the cable will need replacement. If everything is tight at the transmission end, you really need to pop the lid on the console and find out out what's not moving.