Rodney Denis Walshe found guilty in trial of stalking Noosa homeowners

A former film set builder found guilty of stalking a couple denied targeting them in a trial, but the court was told the woman was so afraid she resorted to crawling on the ground to avoid being seen.

Rodney Walshe. Pic by Richard Gosling

A former film set builder, now homeless, charged with stalking a couple on a “prestigious” Noosa street has been found guilty in a Maroochydore court.

The closing arguments of the magistrate-only trial were heard in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on November 11 and wrapped up today.

Rodney Denis Walshe, 57, who is facing two counts of stalking, is alleged to have harassed a couple for more than a year after they moved into their newly purchased home in 2022.

On Tuesday, acting magistrate Anna Smith found Walshe guilty of the stalking charges, saying he loitered around their home, did “drive-bys”, surveyed the couple’s movements, sat outside to watch and video them and harassed them through various means.

He was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment wholly suspended for two years with a restraining order of five years.

Convictions were recorded.

The trial previously raised questions about neighbourhood tension and “lynch mob” behaviour against Walshe, which Ms Smith did not accept.

The court was told Walshe had been living in his car in the neighbourhood, frequently parking directly across from the victims’ home.

The victims complained that Walshe, who had built sets for films including Scooby Doo, Peter Pan and Ghost Ship before being injured on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean, drove over their lawn, loitered near their property and parked directly in front of their bins to obstruct their rubbish from being collected.

Parts of the victims’ transcripts were read out in court.

“He seems to be going out of his way to make a pest of himself”, one of the victims said.

“Bothering us on a daily basis for nearly a year or longer.

“Taking videos of every move me make.”

The court was told Walshe had more photos of the victims on his phone than of his own grandchildren.

Ms Smith told the court on Tuesday he had 58 pictures and 28 videos on his phone, including some duplicates and video screenshots.

Rodney Walshe is charged with stalking a couple after they moved into their house in Noosa. Picture Richard Gosling/File

Other complaints included claims that Walshe jammed bins against their letterbox, and on one occasion reversed his car into one of their vehicles.

The court was told one of the victims testified to feeling “tormented,” accusing Walshe of “staring them out” and “shining a light at their house”.

The court was also told that the woman had felt so distressed by Walshe’s presence that she would “crawl along the ground” to avoid being seen when she was moving from her pool to her door by the front patio.

“Our dream house has been wrecked by this gentleman,” the man said.

The court was told that after contacting the Noosa Council, the victims were advised to report the incidents to police.

The couple ended up selling their “forever home” because of Walshe’s actions.

Ms Smith said the man had told the court in his evidence they had barely made any profit off the sale.

In his closing argument, Walshe’s solicitor, Adrian Hawkes, characterised the neighbours’ complaints as exaggerated and driven by a “lynch mob mentality”.

Rodney Walshe is charged with stalking a couple after they moved into their house in Noosa. Picture: Richard Gosling/File.

Mr Hawks argued that Walshe was merely a man “down on his luck” living a transient lifestyle and that the neighbours were intolerant, judging him based on his presence on the street rather than any concrete threat.

“Just because they’ve come along and bought a high-value house doesn’t mean he should be displaced,” Mr Hawkes said.

He suggested the couple’s claims were “peppered with petty allegations” and “bordering on paranoia”.

Mr Hawkes also noted that a police officer had taken a compassionate approach toward the victims, suggesting that the neighbours and authorities had misunderstood or overreacted to his behaviour.

Mr Hawkes countered that the couple had “obsessed” over Walshe and were overly sensitive to his presence, interpreting his actions as targeted harassment when, in his view, they were simply the behaviours of a disadvantaged man adjusting to “fairly ordinary” circumstances.

“He is a homeless man at the bottom of the economic scale,” Mr Hawkes said.

The defence argued that the couple’s resentment had grown into an “utter intolerance” of Walshe’s presence.

Walshe testified in court denying all of the couple’s allegations, saying he wanted “nothing to do with them”.
“I just wanted to get on with my life,” he said.

Originally published as Rodney Denis Walshe found guilty in trial of stalking Noosa homeowners