It's the ugliest family feud we've ever seen on A Current Affair - a decade-long battle between brothers over who owns a home.
The fights went far beyond the courtroom - even our camera crews getting attacked... and just when you thought it was all over - it's not. (Broadcast 17 February, 2025)
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A Current Affair covers the realms of politics, crime, human rights, science, technology, celebrities and entertainment - all investigated by a dedicated team. A Current Affairs airs weeknights 7.00pm on Channel 9
The fights went far beyond the courtroom - even our camera crews getting attacked... and just when you thought it was all over - it's not. (Broadcast 17 February, 2025)
Subscribe here: http://9Soci.al/v6PJ50GjSKI |
Stream full episodes on 9Now: https://9now.app.link/5Kxzlq5dX6
Follow ACA on Facebook: http://facebook.com/ACurrentAffair9
Follow ACA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ACurrentAffair9
Follow ACA on Instagram: http://instagram.com/ACurrentAffair9
A Current Affair covers the realms of politics, crime, human rights, science, technology, celebrities and entertainment - all investigated by a dedicated team. A Current Affairs airs weeknights 7.00pm on Channel 9
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00:00It's the ugliest family feud we've ever seen.
00:03A decade-long battle between brothers over who owns a home.
00:07The fights went far beyond the courtroom,
00:10even our camera crew's getting attacked.
00:12And just when we thought it was all over, it's not.
00:20I don't believe it. I just don't get it. I don't trust them.
00:23You have never paid me for the house.
00:24I paid you. You want this on your life.
00:26I paid. I paid.
00:27He flew off the handle and just cracked it.
00:30You! You and your wealth of murder!
00:33You want that? You guys are all excess with murder!
00:38There really hasn't been anything like this case
00:40in a current affairs history.
00:42A family feud that ignited on your screens a decade ago,
00:47sparking criminal cases, a civil case
00:50and four Supreme Court judges
00:52all tasked with trying to pick through the evidence,
00:56resulting in a final, unexpected twist that nobody saw coming.
01:07Let me take you back 10 years,
01:09in the days before this powder keg exploded.
01:13You know this is my house, Richard.
01:15This is for my kids and my wife.
01:18And that's what your mum and your dad would have wanted.
01:21The saga started so long ago, I didn't have a beard or any grey hair.
01:26This ugly dispute has its roots right here in this quiet suburban street.
01:31George Scaff spoke to me about his shock
01:33at receiving an eviction notice from his brother Richard.
01:37I still find it hard that this isn't the same guy that I grew up with
01:43would send me a letter saying to evict me from my house with my family.
01:49The title deed had Richard's name on it,
01:51but George had lived in the home for 25 years
01:54and never paid any rent.
01:57George claimed their parents had bought the home for him,
02:00but put his bank teller brother Richard's name on the deed
02:04to keep the property safe.
02:06They bought a house for Richard and they paid it off for him.
02:09Then they bought a house for me and they paid it off for me.
02:13The whole family was raised in this same street in Sydney's Dulwich Hill.
02:18Their mum Suad used to live here,
02:20eldest son Richard Scaff right next door
02:23and two doors down is where George Scaff called home
02:27along with his wife where they raised their two children.
02:31The brothers were once so close they were godfathers to each other's children.
02:35But once mum Suad passed away, the relationship fractured.
02:40After mum passed away,
02:42he went and changed the title deeds and put his wife on it.
02:46It was after midnight at an industrial estate in Greenacre
02:51when this feud erupted with an unexpected cricket battle.
02:55Richard.
02:56Dan Nolan from A Current Affair, mate.
02:58Put that bat down.
03:00Put that bat down.
03:02Oh, you!
03:03Mate.
03:04You're up for murder.
03:05Put that...
03:06All accessory to murder.
03:07Put that bat down, mate.
03:09All accessory to murder.
03:10Mate, what are you talking about?
03:12He's already put a hit on it.
03:14He's already put a hit on me with my life.
03:16What are you talking about, mate?
03:17He put a hit.
03:18We're from A Current Affair.
03:19Mate, you get out of here.
03:20Mate, we're from A Current Affair.
03:21You just attacked that man for no reason.
03:24You came at us with a cricket bat.
03:26The bat whacked George's friend on the arm and was then flung away
03:30but unfortunately Richard found it very quickly.
03:33We want to know why you're evicting your brother from his home.
03:37Your mum bought that...
03:38Why are you evicting me from my house?
03:39You're not.
03:40Why are you evicting me from my house?
03:41It's not your house.
03:42It's not your house.
03:43It is my house.
03:44It never has been, George.
03:45I paid you for the house.
03:46You have never paid me for the house.
03:47I paid you.
03:48Do you want to know why?
03:49Mate.
03:50Mate.
03:51Don't do that.
03:52Mate.
03:53We haven't done anything.
03:54Mate, that's assault.
03:55Mate, that's assault right there.
03:56We're calling the police.
03:57Get out.
03:58With our cameraman copping a vicious blow from the bat,
04:00I had to call triple zero.
04:02We're being assaulted and we need police here.
04:04ASAP.
04:06Meanwhile, George tries to wrestle the weapon from his brother.
04:11But then George cops a hit from the bat and lets rip himself.
04:17Richard was running a newspaper delivery business from here.
04:20Even they became weapons.
04:22You are not allowed...
04:24Hey, Richard.
04:25Get out.
04:28As the brothers punch on over the papers...
04:36We call Richard an ambulance.
04:39Until the day I f***ing die, George, you're gone.
04:42The police arrive and this fiery family feud heads for the courts.
04:51Hi, Richard.
04:52Last time I saw you, you pulled a bat on me.
04:54So what have you got to say for yourself?
04:56Burwood Magistrate's Court was the scene for the next chapter
04:59in the battle of the Scaff brothers.
05:02Six months had passed since that violent night.
05:05What I saw that night, it still haunts me
05:09because that's not the brother that I know.
05:12Has anyone been murdered, Richard?
05:14I mean, you accused us that night of being accessory to murder.
05:17I'm just still trying to work out what that murder's about.
05:20Richard was supported by wife Nada.
05:22She'd arrived late at the scene following the brawl,
05:25giving our cameras a big smile.
05:27Do you regret trying to evict your brother?
05:29And what about you, Nada?
05:31Do you think it was a problem for you?
05:33And what about you, Nada?
05:34Do you think it was a problem putting your name on that title deed?
05:37Richard's criminal charges included one count of common assault
05:41and two counts of malicious damage.
05:44What have you got to say about this?
05:45Are you sorry about any of what happened?
05:48The magistrate placed him on a good behaviour bond
05:51and ordered he pay back close to $5,000 in damages for the broken equipment.
05:57It's a pretty messy situation you've created here, Richard.
06:00Are you going to have anything to say to us at all?
06:02Get your hands off me, OK?
06:05Brother George also pleaded guilty to one count of common assault.
06:09He too was placed on a good behaviour bond.
06:12But the dispute over the house was still a long way from being resolved.
06:17What's going to happen with the house now, Richard?
06:20Richard, what's going to happen with the house now?
06:26It would take another eight long years for this dispute
06:30to finally make its way to the Supreme Court.
06:33Hi, Richard. Good to see you left the cricket bat at home today.
06:37What are your thoughts on the case?
06:39Hoping the judge is a cricket fan?
06:41The Dulwich Hill property was now valued at $2.2 million.
06:46By then, George Scath had called it home for 34 years,
06:50never once paying rent to Richard and also paying for three renovations.
06:57Why would I want to put money into a house that doesn't belong to me?
07:00I put money into the house because it belonged to me.
07:03Once again, Richard wasn't saying much,
07:05but one of his supporters was making a pest of himself.
07:09Hey, don't touch the camera, please.
07:11Don't touch the camera.
07:13There'll be another assault charge.
07:15There's already been a few assault charges.
07:20Supreme Court Justice Stephen Robb was given the unenviable task
07:24of working out who the true owner of the house was.
07:27Neither brother had definitive evidence to prove their case,
07:31leaving it up to the judge to infer what had happened
07:34from the testimony of several witnesses.
07:37Of course, the most important witness, their mother Suad,
07:41had died just before this feud exploded.
07:44What do you think your mum would make of all this?
07:47How do you think she'd feel,
07:49seeing the two boys battling it out in the Supreme Court?
07:52Without their mum's testimony,
07:54the witnesses called included one of George's old primary school teachers,
07:58who contacted A Current Affair after watching that brawl.
08:02Mr Claude Caccitti said watching our story about the dispute
08:06reminded him of conversations he had with the boys' mother
08:10way back in 1979.
08:13I want to make sure my kids are provided for in life.
08:16He claims Suad told him.
08:18I will buy George and Richard each a home so that they are prepared.
08:23What he said blew my mind in saying that my mum's intention
08:27was to buy the boy one boy a house and the other boy a house.
08:30You know, like, this doesn't happen after 30, 35 years
08:35when someone's taught you when you're 12 or 13 years old.
08:38Richard Scaff claimed their parents didn't buy either son a home,
08:43adamant he paid for his house with the help of his sister,
08:46then paid for the property George lived in all by himself.
08:50Justice Robb did his own calculations
08:53to determine if Richard could afford to pay off both houses,
08:57eventually determining it wasn't possible,
09:00finding George was the true owner, if not the legal owner.
09:04The evidence strongly establishes that George formed the assumption
09:07that he was the true owner and that a convention developed
09:10as between George and Richard that that was the real situation.
09:14Richard's silence would have had the effect of cementing the assumption.
09:18He was there for the five days, he saw it, he went away,
09:22took him six months to come back with his decision
09:25and when he came back after the six months, he gave his decision
09:30and I won it on every aspect.
09:34George Scaff had won, or so he thought.
09:38With so much at stake, Richard Scaff had one last throw of the dice,
09:43filing an appeal.
09:45This time, three Supreme Court judges went back over all the evidence
09:50and came up with a completely different decision.
09:53Contrary to the primary judge, I have concluded on the balance
09:57of probabilities that Richard paid for the property
10:00and was its legal and beneficial owner.
10:03I was absolutely gutted.
10:06I felt so sick to the stomach.
10:08I thought it was a joke.
10:11This can't be happening.
10:13You know, like, how can these judges come back with this decision?
10:18The appeal judges found the original judge effectively reversed
10:22the onus of proof on Richard, whose name on that title deed
10:26remained the strongest piece of hard evidence.
10:30They also found it was procedurally unfair for Justice Robb
10:34to conduct his own calculations of interest payments,
10:37which were not put to Richard or the experts.
10:40There was also a dramatic turnaround on whether Richard
10:44had properly informed George the house wasn't his,
10:47the appeal finding that Richard had told him on four occasions.
10:52Well, that never happened.
10:54That conversation never, ever happened, right?
10:57Because if that conversation did happen,
10:59I wouldn't renovate the house once,
11:01renovate it twice, renovate the house three times.
11:04What idiot would do that if it's not their home?
11:07George's decade-long battle is now over.
11:11Taking it to the High Court is another hefty legal cost
11:15he can't afford, so he's packing up his home of 34 years
11:19to hand it over to his brother.
11:21I've got a lot of great memories in this house,
11:24where I raised my family.
11:27My mum, she was alive today.
11:29She wouldn't be very happy, I'll tell you that.
11:31She was absolutely livid.
11:35George feels let down by the justice system.
11:38Only the first judge watched the witnesses in person,
11:42assessing body language and facial expressions
11:45to determine truth in such a murky case.
11:48The appeal judges acknowledged that as a limitation for them,
11:52but were still adamant there was enough evidence
11:55to find in Richard's favour.
11:57I fight this case, I win this case after nine years.
12:01How's this justice now, after it's overturned?
12:03Richard Scaff is now in possession of this contentious property.
12:07He declined our interview request.
12:10Who knows what the future holds for these two brothers now?
12:14Look, at the end of the day, he's my brother.
12:17I've only got one brother,
12:19but I feel like other parties have poisoned his mind.
12:23I know that if my mum and dad were alive today,
12:25they'd actually throw him into the ground.
12:28You're wrong! You're wrong!
12:30You're wrong, Richard! You're wrong!
12:34You can't pick your family, can you?
12:36And to see it drag on for so long.