Brett Leslie Scarff: Geraldton man jailed for threats to kill

A Geraldton man who told his daughter she had better “say goodbye to your mum” because he was going to kill her has been jailed for 14 moths for “persistently” threatening his ex-wife. Brett Leslie Scarff pleaded guilty to stalking and breaching family violence restraining orders which were put in place in January to protect his former partner and one of his daughters. Prosecutor Sgt Troy Gildersleeve told Geraldton Magistrates Court Scarff first threatened to kill his ex-wife — who had ended the 37-year marriage in mid-2020 — during a phone call with his daughter on January 3. “He called his daughter and said ‘you better ring up and say goodbye to your mum, I am going around tomorrow and I am going to f…… kill her’,” Sgt Gildersleeve said. Scarff arrived at his ex-wife’s house 10 days later and started “stabbing the glass window” of her house with a pocket knife and threatening her. Sgt Gildersleeve said Scarff in May made 13 phone calls to the woman, with voicemails left by the 59-year-old calling his ex-wife a “gutless b....”. In another message, Scarff said the longer he was prevented from contacting his daughter, the more he would “hate” the woman. He also told his ex-wife: “You will not see what happens to me at the end of the year because you will not live.’ The court was told Scarff’s daughter had since amended the restraining order and was now in contact with her father. Defence lawyer George Giudice said Scarff had become “dependent” on his wife during their relationship and started “spiralling into a depressive state” when his wife left him. Mr Giudice said the offending occurred when Scarff was not taking his medication and had instead turned to alcohol to manage the pain of the break-up. Scarff spent 39 days in custody before he was released on bail, with Mr Giudice saying further jail time was “not going to help him” with his mental health treatment needs. “His plan for the future is to keep healthy, keep off the alcohol, make money and continue with the counselling ... he feels strong about moving on.” Magistrate Robert Young said the “anger, hurt and confusion” Scarff experienced when his marriage ended did not excuse his “deeply concerning” behaviour. Mr Young described Scarff’s voicemail threats as “vile, abusive, demeaning and humiliating” and said it was “grossly inappropriate” to make some of these threats through his daughter. He sentenced him to one year and two months jail, with Scarff to be eligible for parole after seven months.