Australian bull riding champion Scott Miners escapes jail over threats against ex’s new partner

A magistrate has slammed an Australian bull rider who threw a spanner at the car of a man driving around with his ex, saying ‘she’s not your property’.

An Australian bull riding champion has been reprimanded after trying to blame his serious offences on his ex-partner and the breakdown of their relationship.

Scott Miners, 43, faced Goulburn Local Court on charges of intimidation and destruction of property.

Miners is a bull riding champion who most recently won the over-40s championship in the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft and Rodeo Association Bull Ride at Goulburn in 2018. Recently, however, Miners has been collecting convictions rather than championships.

Scott Miners is a bull riding champion and shearer living in Crookwell NSW. Picture: Facebook

The court heard Miners had seen his ex-partner, who has an AVO against him, driving around with an old friend of his in Bredbo and had became jealous.

At 5am on December 30, his former friend heard a car drive onto his property and heard something hit the roof. When he looked out the window, he saw Miners outside throwing a spanner at his car and breaking the passenger window, court documents state.

In his submissions, Miners’s defence lawyer said his client was trying to get the attention of his ex-partner and ex-friend, but Magistrate Geraldine Beattie rejected the suggestion.

“Have you heard of a doorbell?” she asked.

“So what? She’s in a relationship with your ex-friend. She’s not your property.”

When the friend phoned Miners, Miners said he was in Crookwell and had nothing to do with the damage but that didn’t stop him from threatening the friend.

Scott Miners is originally from Cooma, NSW. Picture: Facebook

“I’ll come kick your door in and blow your head off,” he said on the call.

Miners’s phone was pinging off the local towers at the time of the offences, which placed him in the Bredbo area at the time, according to court documents.

His lawyer told the court Miners had made “bad choices” following the breakdown of his relationship.

“He’s a man with a criminal history because he keeps making silly decisions,” he said.

Magistrate Beattie noted the submissions from Miners all pointed to “a lot of blaming of the ex-wife.”

The incident took place in Bredbo, a small town in NSW near the Snowy Mountains. Picture: Sue Bennett

Miners was also resentenced for a community corrections oOrder, put in place over drug charges and a vicious assault on his partner in 2019, who was hospitalised. The court heard he blamed the incident on her.

Magistrate Beattie said his attempts to blame the victim were unacceptable.

“To blame her for your criminal history is not on,” she said.

“To blame her for you grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head into the headboard is not on.”

She sentenced Miners to nine months imprisonment, to be served in the community as an intensive corrections order, and emphasised he must follow the supervision orders. Miners was also sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order for the breach of the AVO, as well as 300 hours of community service.