An embattled builder has come to blows with a journalist who confronted him over why construction was continuing on his wife’s home while hundreds of customers are left with unfinished projects.
Veteran Seven News reporter Geof Parry approached Nicheliving director, Ronnie Michel-Elhaj, on Saturday morning outside of the home in Applecross, Perth.
Parry tried to ask Mr Michel-Elhaj why construction was still going ahead at his wife’s home while up to 200 of his customers were waiting for their projects to be completed.
Some customers had signed contracts with the builder four years ago.
But instead of answering, Mr Michel-Elhaj snatched the microphone out of the reporter’s hands and grabbed onto the camera to block its lens.
A cameraman can be heard yelling at Mr Michel-Elhaj to ‘drop the camera’ to which he responded ‘don’t film me’.
Mr Michel-Elhaj then claimed Parry was trespassing on the property after the pair fell to the ground behind metal fencing.
‘I’m not trespassing, come on mate … I just wanted to ask you a few questions. This is ridiculous,’ Parry responded.
Nicheliving director, Ronnie Michel-Elhaj, has been involved in a scuffle with a veteran reporter trying to ask him why hundreds of customers had their projects paused (pictured)
Mr Michel-Elhaj lashed out at Parry and his cameraman in a statement revealing he had reported the incident to police and would be pressing charges.
The director posted the statement to LinkedIn, accusing Parry and Seven of having ‘relentlessly ambushed my family and me for sensationalist purposes’.
‘After I asked Geof not to trespass on a work site and film me, he ignored my request and continued filming,’ the statement reads.
‘The first incident by Geoff and Seven was an ambush on my family at night walking home which has caused our family severe distress.
‘Geof and Seven have taken things to a whole new level causing personal injury.
‘This is not journalism, it is now bullying and absolutely unacceptable disgusting behaviour which must be banned.’
Western Australia Premier, Roger Cook, came to the reporter’s defence and slammed Mr Michel-Elhaj’s response to his questions.
‘My message to Nicheliving is: Ronnie, read the room,’ Mr Cook said at the launch of a new domestic violence awareness campaign.
‘It’s not OK that you look after yourself and your home when you have literally hundreds of clients that are still not being able to get into their own home that you are under contract to build.
‘Violence is never OK, but we particularly deplore the fact that (this is) someone going about their work, in this case, Geof and his camera team simply asking questions consistent with their job.’
Mr Michel-Elhaj (pictured) lashed out at Parry and his cameraman in a statement revealing he had reported the incident to police and would be pressing charges
Among the hundreds of affected customers is the state’s Opposition leader, Shane Love, who said the ‘writing has been on the wall’ for the company for many months.
‘Many people have put their lives on hold, and their letters to the State Government, the State Administrative Tribunal, and the Building Commission have not been met with the urgency or empathy needed,’ he said.
‘The state government has sat on their hands.’
Nicheliving had its registration renewal declined by the Building Services Board in July, which could have allowed affected customers to claim up to $200,000 from insurance.
However, Nicheliving took the matter to the State Administrative Tribunal which returned their registration until the next hearing in November.
Parry later appeared on Seven News with a blunt message for Mr Michel-Elhaj.
‘You owe your customers answers, you owe your customers a way out of this nightmare and lastly you owe your customers an apology,’ he said.
‘Or I’ll keep coming for your on their behalf.’
Nicheliving has been involved in more than $500million worth of property deals in WA.
Mr Michel-Elhaj himself was previously recognised as one of the state’s top entrepreneurs at the 40under40 awards.
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