Ghost bust-up

By Tania Martin
A SASSAFRAS man is fed-up with being the victim of a 25-year campaign of would-be ghost busting, vandalism and garden statue thefts.
Malcolm Johnson, 68, is sick and tired of people throwing stones at his house and running around his garden because they think it’s haunted.
In the latest attack on the notorious hills mansion, Rostrevor, a 90-centimetre crocodile and a Cinderella statue where stolen from his garden.
Mr Johnson said he has people running around his garden at least three times a week trying to a catch a phantom ghost.
Mr Johnson said the crocodile would have weighed at least 40 kilograms.
This is not the first time Mr Johnson has been the victim of crime.
He says he has spent the past 25 years battling would-be ghost busters.
In the worst incident he was attacked by a group of baseball bat wielding ghost busters in January last year.
The trouble all started when a well-known paranormal enthusiast, who died in the 1980s, wrote a series of stories about ghosts and ghouls in the area.
Since then his home has become a notorious attraction.
“I just want to be left alone,” Mr Johnson said.
“They took my Cinderella and crocodile but they left me my seven dwarfs.”
This latest spate of crime at Rostrevor follows the release of annual crime statistic that showed crime in police Region 4, which includes Yarra Ranges, has increased by 31.8 per cent.
Region 4 also includes three other major local government areas including Knox, Manningham and Nillumbik. The report was last week leaked to the State Opposition and showed a significant increase in violent robberies, weapons offences and a bizarre increase in abductions and kidnapping.
Opposition leader Ted Baillieu said Region 4 had the biggest increase in robberies of any police region in the state at a staggering 31.8 per cent, suggesting a new trend in violent economic crime.
Mr Baillieu said the total of violent crimes were up 21 per cent and assaults up more than 40 per cent.