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‘Get out of my car, mate’ Aussie legend confronts thief like a boss

A Melbourne legend records his calm confrontation with an unknown man rifling through his things at a St Kilda car park.

When the thongs-wearing Josh Denney returned to find the would-be thief going through his console in an underground car park off Fitzroy Street, about 10.30am on Thursday, the Aussie legend got out his phone to record the confrontation.

Melbourne man Josh Denney kept his composure while confronting a man rifling through his car. Picture: Facebook/Josh Denney
Melbourne man Josh Denney kept his composure while confronting a man rifling through his car. Picture: Facebook/Josh Denney

Instead of getting aggressive and violent, Mr Denney can be seen approaching the man in a cool-as-a-cucumber manner.

“Get out of my car, mate,” he calmly tells the thief, repeatedly.

Pretending to act confused, the man asks, “Your car?” as if Mr Denney was mistaken.

“My car,” the calm vehicle owner reassures him.

“B******t,” the thief says.

The man insists the car belongs to someone named Brett Ren, who apparently is a “split image” of Mr Denney.

The thief empties his pockets to reveal a packet of crayons that did't belong to the man whose car he was in. Picture: Facebook/Josh Denney
The thief empties his pockets to reveal a packet of crayons that did't belong to the man whose car he was in. Picture: Facebook/Josh Denney

Mr Denney tells the man he doesn’t know who the so-called 'Brett' is, but he wouldn’t want him going through his things.

“I don’t know why you do it, mate, there’s cameras everywhere,” he tells the robber, still calmly, before asking him to empty his pockets.

“You got anything in your pockets? My iPod there?” he asks.

Mr Denney can be heard saying “that’s mine” to something in the man’s possession, before he pulls out a pack of crayons, which Mr Denney says weren’t his.

“I wouldn’t be going through people’s car like that,” he tells the brazen thief.

“If I find out there’s stuff missing out of my car I’ll be coming to look for you.”

The thongs-wearing Aussie legend has been praised for his calm-as-a-cucumber approach to confronting the would-be thief. Picture: Facebook/Josh Denney
The thongs-wearing Aussie legend has been praised for his calm-as-a-cucumber approach to confronting the would-be thief. Picture: Facebook/Josh Denney

As the robber walks away, a woman can be heard approaching Mr Denney and asking about the incident.

“Oh my God… you were really calm, well done," she said.

“S**t, it looks like you caught him just in time!”


Mr Denney confesses: “I wasn’t sure how he was going to react.”

Not only does the Aussie legend stop a robbery without violence, he also offers the passer-by his pre-paid parking ticket so she can park free for the rest of the day.

Mr Denney told 3AW radio it was a mistake to leave his car unlocked.

He said the first thing he thought of was to get his phone out to record the incident, because he thought “I can’t believe this is happening, so I didn’t think anybody else would”.

“I was conducting my own interrogation. I noticed that my iPod was missing… I got all my belongings back.”

The former ferry ticketing officer and deckhand said his former boss told him he was unreliable in pressured situations, which is contrary to the calm nature he retained during the video footage.

“I got my stuff back, he got to keep his crayons and the lady that was watching got a free car park. So it was happy days in the end,” Mr Denney said.

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