Why Vanessa Amorosi’s ramshackle Melbourne home worth millions has been at the centre of police attention – and her neighbours are worried

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A house owned by Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi has her wealthy neighbors worried amid fears her criminal cousin may return there.

Eden Merritt, 34, was on the run from the law after escaping from Amorosi’s Narre Warren North slum, east of Melbourne, earlier this year.

Daily Mail Australia has been told that heavily armed police officers converged on the pop star’s home earlier this year in the hope of taking down Merritt.

Neighbors claimed Merritt managed to escape the police net and were warned to keep a lookout for him in a public alert from the local police Facebook page.

The dangerous criminal was arrested and faced Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on July 17, where he was convicted of 50 charges and jailed for a year.

Among the charges were possession of methylamphetamine and weapons, car theft, theft, handling stolen goods and committing crimes while on bail for fraud.

By then, he had already spent 123 days behind bars, awaiting sentencing.

The Amorosi shack, nestled among multi-million dollar estates overlooking green hills, has become an ugly blemish on the otherwise peaceful landscape.

On Thursday, Amoros’ home had seven battered cars and an abandoned caravan strewn across the property.

The dilapidated house is believed to have been frequented by residents.

A neighbor claimed a counter had been placed on the dirt road by authorities in the hope of monitoring traffic on the property.

It remains unclear how long Merritt had lived in the home. Election records list both Merritt and the ‘Absolutely Everybody’ singer as living there.

Daily Mail Australia does not suggest that the Australian star actually lives in the dilapidated shack, or that she lived there while Merritt was there.

Also, it is not suggested that Vanessa Amorosi was aware that Merritt was wanted by the police before, during, or after her stay at the home.

“There were always cars coming and going by it,” said one neighbor. “We don’t know what was going on there, but it was unusual considering where it is.”

Another neighbor described the number of cars visiting the property as ‘strange’. “You just get used to it… they’re a strange family,” the neighbor said.

The neighbor said the pop star “hasn’t lived there for about 20 years”.

Several neighbors reported other incidents at the property involving police.

“There was an incident maybe a year and a half ago where (a car was stolen) and it was driven here.

“There were helicopters flying overhead. I don’t know if they found him, but they were looking in the shed,” said the neighbor.

Located on a hill just above the hut is another house owned by the Amorosi clan.

That home has been the subject of a bitter legal battle between Amoros and her estranged mother Joyleen Robinson.

In a Victorian Supreme Court filing, Amorosi claimed she often did not receive what she was owed over a period spanning 20 years.

Instead, the money allegedly went to Ms Robinson as management fees, was distributed to funds for the benefit of other family members or paid to “persons unknown”. Age reported in 2021.

Court documents do not make clear when the relationship between Amoros and her mother broke down.

Ms Robinson later filed a counterclaim denying she had withheld funds from her daughter and claimed the singer breached an agreement they made on the Narre house Warren Amorosi bought in 2001. The case is ongoing.

Photos posted on social media by Amorosi show that she has the word ‘Joyleen’ tattooed on her shoulder.

Amorosi, now 42, achieved her biggest breakthrough in 1999 with the release of her debut single, ‘Have a Look’, which went gold in Australia.

The following year, she achieved international success with her debut studio album, The Power.

Amorosi performed at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Her performance of “Heroes Live Forever” at the opening ceremony won international acclaim.

But it was her song ‘Absolutely Everybody’ that became an unofficial anthem of the games and went on to be a huge hit in Australia and many European countries, including Britain and Germany.

Her combined album and single sales have exceeded two million worldwide.

Daily Mail Australia has approached Amoros’ manager for comment.