Melbourne ‘Penthouse King’ denies driving into traffic controller

Real estate agent Robert Mitchelson will fight “tooth and nail” to clear his name over allegations he deliberately drove into a traffic controller.

A Melbourne real estate agent will fight charges he deliberately hit a traffic controller with his car.

Veteran Melbourne real estate agent Robert Mitchelson will fight charges he deliberately hit a traffic controller with his car.

Mr Mitchelson, known in the property sector as the “Penthouse King”, said he would deny driving his Jaguar XKR into the warden at Southbank in 2020.

The 80-year-old operator of Icon Property said he intended to plead not guilty to a charge of assault with a weapon.

Melbourne real estate agent Robert Mitchelson Picture: Supplied

Mr Mitchelson said he was 50m from home when he was stopped by the warden, who was controlling traffic near a construction site. He said it had been alleged that he intentionally drove into the woman, injuring her.

“I’m not going to plead to something I didn’t do. I’m going to fight it tooth and nail,” Mr Mitchelson said.

The matter will go before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court next Monday.

“I never had one word with her. It was a non-event. I didn’t strike her,” Mr Mitchelson said.

“It was all hand signals.”

Mr Mitchelson, who has hired a barrister for the case, claimed he had been offered a diversion on a charge of careless driving but would not accept it.

He said the decision left him exposed to the risk of a conviction and considerable damage to his business but there was no way he was going to plead guilty.

Mr Mitchelson said Icon had effectively been put in hibernation by a drop in Chinese investment in up-market apartments and the industry-wide damage of the pandemic.

He said a conviction would put the real estate agent licence he was issued 62 years ago in jeopardy.

“There’s a lot at stake, plus the damage to my good name. I don’t need this on my shoulders,” Mr Mitchelson said.

He said he could defend the matter on the basis that he was not actually present on the day charge documents say the altercation occurred.

He said his diary showed he was at Wantirna talking to a developer and three estate agents.

But he said he had been unable to get phone records which would prove this was the case, despite paying his phone provider for them.

Nicknamed the “Penthouse King” by others in the real estate sector, Mr Mitchelson was a trailblazer in the trade in top-line Melbourne apartment buildings.

He owned the famed Spray Farm on the Mornington Peninsula for two decades until the 1990s.

Notable subsequent owners have included Rick Jamieson, who bred champion racehorse Black Caviar, and ANZ banking chief Mike Smith.