Thieves invade famous radio personality’s home while his daughter was inside: 'Awful experience'
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Feeling safe at home is a basic human right.
However, that peace was brutally torn away from an Australian radio host in a harrowing home invasion that targeted his Melbourne residence while his daughter was inside.
John Rothfield, known to his listeners as Dr Turf, faced every parent's nightmare when a group of wayward youths broke into his Armadale home, confronting and threatening his daughter in a terrifying ordeal.
Dr Turf was on a holiday in Northern New South Wales when his Armadale home, located in Melbourne's affluent Inner-East, was invaded by three alleged offenders at about 3 am on Tuesday.
His daughter and her friend were the only ones home at the time.
'They broke into the house and did a bit of a ransack and pillaging and then made their way upstairs and shone a torch in their eyes and got them up,' Dr Turf recounted on radio station 3AW.
The radio star's daughter was verbally threatened with a knife, although no weapon was physically shown to her during the incident.
'She had to endure that awful experience on her own…she’s a tough kid,' he added.
Rothfield later claimed that footage obtained from a neighbour's house revealed the offenders were indeed in possession of a knife.
'They said that they were armed so she would accede to their demands and reveal the treasures which, of course, weren’t there.'
Dr Turf praised his daughter for her bravery and level-headedness during the ordeal.
'She was also pretty protective of her friend who was not quite prepared for what ensued, and they [the offenders] got a bit agitated as well,' he said.
'So she was trying to sort of keep them relatively level-headed despite the fact he threatened that he had a knife.'
The thieves allegedly spent about half an hour in the home before fleeing with some stolen goods.
Rothfield revealed that his home was not the only one targeted that night.
'I think they did three houses on our street [and] we were the unfortunate ones that they actually got into,' he said.
The same three offenders allegedly hit several other properties in the area, leaving with a collection of luxury cars.
The trio are believed to have first broken into a parked car on Waverley Rd in Malvern East at 9:45 pm on Monday and attempted to steal the tools inside.
They then broke into a home on Alcala Ave and allegedly stole a luxury 2018 Porsche Macan GTS at around 10 pm.
A few hours later, the group went into a garden shed at a home on Wattle Grove and nabbed tools at around 1:35 am on Tuesday.
The trio then stole a 2013 Mercedes Benz SLK from Paxton Street before breaking into a house on Avalon Street where three people were sleeping.
In that house, they stole car keys and fled with a 2017 Volkswagen Golf and a luxury Porsche Wagon.
No one was reported to be injured in the incidents.
The community has been left in shock following the incident, given its occurrence just days after a young doctor was stabbed and hit by a car as he pursued a group of thieves who had broken into his East Melbourne home.
The doctor, Ash Gordon (33)—who was found by police on Eildon Street, which was less than a kilometre from his Doncaster home at around 5:30 am—tragically died at the scene.
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However, that peace was brutally torn away from an Australian radio host in a harrowing home invasion that targeted his Melbourne residence while his daughter was inside.
John Rothfield, known to his listeners as Dr Turf, faced every parent's nightmare when a group of wayward youths broke into his Armadale home, confronting and threatening his daughter in a terrifying ordeal.
A few Melbourne houses were invaded by a group of thieves. Image source: City of Melbourne.
Dr Turf was on a holiday in Northern New South Wales when his Armadale home, located in Melbourne's affluent Inner-East, was invaded by three alleged offenders at about 3 am on Tuesday.
His daughter and her friend were the only ones home at the time.
'They broke into the house and did a bit of a ransack and pillaging and then made their way upstairs and shone a torch in their eyes and got them up,' Dr Turf recounted on radio station 3AW.
The radio star's daughter was verbally threatened with a knife, although no weapon was physically shown to her during the incident.
'She had to endure that awful experience on her own…she’s a tough kid,' he added.
Rothfield later claimed that footage obtained from a neighbour's house revealed the offenders were indeed in possession of a knife.
'They said that they were armed so she would accede to their demands and reveal the treasures which, of course, weren’t there.'
Dr Turf praised his daughter for her bravery and level-headedness during the ordeal.
'She was also pretty protective of her friend who was not quite prepared for what ensued, and they [the offenders] got a bit agitated as well,' he said.
'So she was trying to sort of keep them relatively level-headed despite the fact he threatened that he had a knife.'
The thieves allegedly spent about half an hour in the home before fleeing with some stolen goods.
Rothfield revealed that his home was not the only one targeted that night.
'I think they did three houses on our street [and] we were the unfortunate ones that they actually got into,' he said.
The same three offenders allegedly hit several other properties in the area, leaving with a collection of luxury cars.
The trio are believed to have first broken into a parked car on Waverley Rd in Malvern East at 9:45 pm on Monday and attempted to steal the tools inside.
They then broke into a home on Alcala Ave and allegedly stole a luxury 2018 Porsche Macan GTS at around 10 pm.
A few hours later, the group went into a garden shed at a home on Wattle Grove and nabbed tools at around 1:35 am on Tuesday.
The trio then stole a 2013 Mercedes Benz SLK from Paxton Street before breaking into a house on Avalon Street where three people were sleeping.
In that house, they stole car keys and fled with a 2017 Volkswagen Golf and a luxury Porsche Wagon.
No one was reported to be injured in the incidents.
The community has been left in shock following the incident, given its occurrence just days after a young doctor was stabbed and hit by a car as he pursued a group of thieves who had broken into his East Melbourne home.
The doctor, Ash Gordon (33)—who was found by police on Eildon Street, which was less than a kilometre from his Doncaster home at around 5:30 am—tragically died at the scene.
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