Waggrakine man to be sentenced Monday after threatening to kill his ex-wife over relationship breakdown

A Waggrakine man will be sentenced on Monday after making threats to kill his ex-wife and showing up to her house with a knife in January. In Geraldton Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Brett Leslie Scarff said he would never have hurt her and was just venting frustration after the breakdown of their 37 year marriage. “I just had alcohol problems and poor mental health,” he said. “I would never hurt her. It was just a bit of frustration.” But Magistrate Chris Miocevich did not seem impressed, responding it wasn’t possible to know for sure and people had been killed while restraining orders were in place before. “That may be the case,” he said. “But we’ve seen many instances where people have died. People need to get the message that restraining orders mean something.” On January 3, Scarff rang his 23-year-old daughter leaving a voicemail warning her to say goodbye to her mother because he intended to kill her. “You’d better ring up and say goodbye to your mother, I’m going around and I’m going to kill her,” Prosecutor Sgt Beau Jones read from a transcript of the message. “I’ve sharpened my pocket knife, you best say goodbye because you won’t get a chance tomorrow.” Ten days later, the 58-year-old was arrested in front of his ex-wife’s home in Wandina with stabbing a glass window with a pocket knife and shouting “I’m going to kill you”. He was given bail on January 14 after a night in custody and promised he would not contact or approach the woman. Less than a month later, on February 9, he was back behind bars after breaching the restraining order. Yesterday, Scarff pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to kill, being armed in a way that may cause fear, and two counts breaching a violence restraining order. His lawyer, George Giudice, argued the offence could be dealt with by way of fines, an offer Sgt Jones said was “wholly inappropriate”. He was remanded into custody and will reappear in the same court on Monday for sentencing.