Robbie Moloney spent yesterday anxiously waiting to be evicted from his Nirranda home that has been the subject of a six-year legal battle.
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Mr Moloney, a self-confessed cannabis smoker, has been squatting for the past year with his 18-year-old son in the house that was confiscated by authorities under the proceeds of crime laws.
He expected to be marched off the Mathiesons Road property yesterday by representatives of the Sheriff’s Office when they issued him with a final eviction notice.
Mr Moloney said he would go peacefully but would pitch a tent on the roadside because he had nowhere else to go.
He had moved his belongings out of the home in anticipation of his eviction.
Mr Moloney said he was forced to stay in a tent because he had been unable to find private rental accommodation.
Landlords had been unwilling to rent to him and he speculated it was because of his reputation as a dope smoker.
His expected eviction from the mud-brick home he built more than 20 years ago was the latest step in a saga that has caused a headache for law enforcement authorities and the ANZ bank, with which Mr Moloney has a mortgage on the property.
Mr Moloney said he wanted the bank to again put up the property for auction and write off its loan to him.
An auction of the 2.5-hectare property in 2012 fell through because of a raft of legal problems that included the home not having the proper approvals from Moyne Shire Council.
Mr Moloney feared the continuation of the loan, and the bank’s refusal to accept his repayments, would lead to his bankruptcy.
“I want it over and done with,” Mr Moloney said of the wrangle over the house sale.
“I am caught in limbo,” he said.
The legal wrangle over the confiscation of his home had left “the law looking like an ass,” he said.
Mr Moloney, who has become a ‘bush lawyer’ through his battle with the authorities, estimated the Office of Public Prosecutions Victoria had spent more than $1 million in its battle to confiscate his assets after he was caught growing a commercial quantity of cannabis in 2008.
Mr Moloney said the loss of his home had also meant he had been unable to continue his work as a self-employed welder and builder.
He had operated from a workshop on the property but was unwilling to leave his equipment there because of the dispute.
ehimmelreich@fairfaxmedia.com.au
