A man who once claimed to be Hitler’s son seems to have declared war on his neighbours. Five out of the 10 elderly residents in a Brisbane unit complex have been summoned to court by Michael John O’Hara. O’Hara, 67, moved into a block of housing commission flats on Brisbane’s south side four years ago. “He once did claim to be the son of Hitler,” says Shirley Ryan. “I feel he acts like he’s from the Gestapo.” Shirley says she was summoned to court to defend herself against a peace and good behaviour order O’Hara was applying for. “I won in the Magistrate’s Court and then he appealed to the District Court where he lost again,” says Shirley. Shirley’s neighbour Eunice Pacey says she also won in the Magistrate’s Court when O’Hara claimed she had scratched his car. “I was too sick to go to court,” says Eunice. “So I spoke over the phone. Now, even though I won, O’Hara appealed and I couldn’t get there again so he won and now he wants me to pay the costs.” Karen says she was accused of throwing paint on O’Hara’s car in the carpark. “Of course I didn’t do it,” says Karen. “I did accidently hose his car and the Magistrate found in my favour.” Shirley said one man O’Hara took action against was also forced to pay costs. “He moved out rather than deal with him anymore,” she said. Shirley says the litigation started flying when she asked O’Hara to move his car one day. “He said if I wanted to tell him anything I had to put it in writing,” says Shirley. “I said why, are you a jailbird? It was then he went berserk.” O’Hara did in fact move into the unit block after serving three years of a 10-year jail term for fraud. “I had no idea,” says Shirley. ”But ever since he has been at war with us over nothing.” It is hard to know exactly who O’Hara is. Sixteen years ago a Victorian Court found him guilty of dishonesty when he tried to sell two guns he claimed belonged to Hitler. Two years later he wrote a book, Personal Pistols Of Adolf Hitler, in which he claimed to be the biological son of the former German dictator who was smuggled out of Europe before the end of the Second World War. Then six years ago, after moving to the Gold Coast, he pleaded guilty to aggravated fraud after swindling more than $2 million through a fake investment company. Because he is on parole, we couldn’t ask Mr O’Hara why he seems to delight in taking legal action against his neighbours. Queensland criminal lawyer Bill Potts says the law is designed to stop jailbirds getting publicity or criticising the system after their release. “There is a good reason for the law,” says Mr Potts. “But in this case it seems there’s a man who is using the courts and the complaints system to speak loudly to the public anyway.” Mr Potts’s only advice for O’Hara’s neighbours is to apply in court to have O’Hara declared vexatious and therefore forbidden from taking actions of this kind. “It’s just not fair,” says Shirley. “Why should we be afraid? We are coming to the end of our lives and we should be able to live in peace. This man obviously enjoys it, he really gets a kick out of it you can see.” The Queensland Housing Department said in a statement it was aware of a “long-standing dispute” between some tenants at a property in Yeerongpilly, and was working with them to resolve the issue. “The department will continue working with tenants, and if necessary, will work with other relevant government agencies in a bid to find a resolution,” the statement read.
