James Dobbie pleads guilty to murder of Rodney Mitchell in 1983
A SERIAL rapist has admitted to the brutal cold case killing of Rodney Mitchell 35 years ago, and a string of rapes, at a well-known lovers’ lane in Melbourne’s southeast.
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A SERIAL rapist has admitted the cold case lovers’ lane murder of Rodney Mitchell 35 years on.
James Dobbie, 65, had walked free for more than three decades before he was arrested in New South Wales in June over the brutal 1983 murder.
Facing Melbourne Magistrates Court today, the quietly-spoken killer pleaded guilty to statutory murder over the fatal shooting at a reserve in Rowville on May 23, 1983.
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Dobbie also pleaded guilty to multiple counts of rape and false imprisonment relating to two separate incidents at the same location in 1980 and 1983.
Court documents reveal Mr Mitchell and his female friend were parked at the Police Paddocks — known at the time as a place for couples to hook up — when Dobbie confronted them wearing a balaclava and armed with a sawn-off shotgun.
Dobbie put the gun through the car window and said: “Don’t move or I’ll shoot, and get out.”
A naked Mr Mitchell stepped out of his red Mitsubishi Sigma, and “lurched” at Dobbie to try and disarm him.
Mr Mitchell was shot twice in the chest during the struggle.
Dobbie then got into the car and tied Mr Mitchell’s female friend’s hands together with rope.
When she tried to escape out the door, he pulled her back inside and with his hands around her neck, threatened: “If you try anything like that again, I will shoot you.”
He then locked the doors and drove off, leaving Mr Mitchell at the scene to die.
His victim later unlocked the door and rolled out of the moving car, with passers-by rushing to her aid and taking her to hospital.
Dobbie, who was living in the NSW-Victorian border town Tocumwal when arrested, later dumped the car at Caulfield train station.
It was Dobbie’s third attack at the Police Paddocks.
On March 22, 1980, in similar circumstances, a gun-wielding Dobbie, wearing a stocking over his face and overalls, forced a 21-year-old woman and her boyfriend from their car.
Dobbie tied the boyfriend to a nearby tree, before forcing the woman to give him oral sex at gunpoint, then pushing her to the ground and raping her.
Three years later on April 12, 1983, he struck again.
This time wearing a balaclava and pointing a double barrel shotgun, he forced an 18-year-old woman and her partner from the car.
He demanded the boyfriend lay on the ground while he tied his feet together with rope, and used sticky bandage to bind his wrists.
Dobbie then put the sticky bandage over the couple’s mouths, later ripping off the female victim’s and demanding she give him oral sex.
As her boyfriend was forced to watch, Dobbie then raped her.
The sexual assault victims sat in court with their families to finally see Dobbie admit his horrendous crimes.
They stared at him as he was made to stand to enter his plea.
“Guilty on all charges,” Dobbie said from the dock, before later thanking Magistrate Sue Cameron.
The victims, who had waited so long for justice, did not wish to speak outside of court.
Dobbie was remanded in custody to face the Supreme Court on November 1.
Originally published as James Dobbie pleads guilty to murder of Rodney Mitchell in 1983