The home of Melbourne radio personality John Rothfield, aka Dr Turf, has been ransacked by home invaders.
Rothfield was holidaying in northern NSW at the time, with one of his daughters the only member of the family home at the time.
During the invasion, his daughter was threatened with a knife when woken by the robbers.
Better known to radio audiences and punters as Dr Turf, Rothfield has spoken about the ordeal on Melbourne’s 3AW this morning.
“She’s had to endure that awful experience on her own, but she’s a tough kid,” he said.
Rothfield spoke with Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft during the 3AW interview. Rothfield is friends with both broadcasters and his friendship with Stevenson dates back to the time the 3AW breakfast host was part of the Lawyers, Guns and Money 3RRR radio show.
Rothfield’s daughter who was woken by the thieves is a gifted Australian Rules footballer and also a skateboarder. “She’s a pretty streetwise kid,” said her father.
“The marauding gang of youths did three houses in our street,” he added. “They ransacked our house, did a bit of pillaging and then woke up my daughter at about 3am.
“They said they were armed and they verbally threatened her with a knife without brandishing a weapon. They spent about 30 minutes in the house before leaving.”
The Herald Sun reported a teen gang turned up at Rothfield’s home in the early hours of Tuesday in what police suspect was an attempt to steal a car.
It was one of a number of properties suspected of being raided by the same group of suspects.
Dr Turf was part of the Punter to Punter radio team on Merlbourne’s 3RRR FM. He was later co-host with Craig Hutchison and Liam Pickering of the popular SEN Saturday morning show Off The Bench.
Dr Turf (left) with Liam Pickering and Hutchy on Off The Bench
After a number of public fallouts, Rothfield left the program and Dr Turf was more recently working with Melbourne racing station RSN 927.
Rothfield was an early investor alongside Hutchison in SEN as it grew from being a single Melbourne radio station to a national network that also includes the racing radio network SENTrack.
See also: Craig Hutchison: 50+ radio stations, podcasting, cricket, football & SENtrack