Brothers Malcolm and Garry Taylor bulldoze Murtoa home in family feud

Two bitter brothers hired an excavator and filmed themselves destroying their own Murtoa property to ensure their sister didn’t “get a cent” in a family feud.

A dumb and dumber pair of brothers hired an excavator to bulldoze a house they part-owned, filming themselves rolling a water tank down a main street of a regional town.

Malcolm and Garry Taylor travelled from QLD to Murtoa to do “renovations” on their family property to ensure their sister didn’t “get a cent” when it was sold.

The years-long feud between the brothers and their sister Kerry — executor of their late parents’ estate — ignited over when the men’s children would get $10,000 in trust payments, the Victorian County Court heard.

But it ended with Malcolm, 57, and Garry, 59, travelling from their QLD home in March 2019 to launch a 30-minute “tirade of destruction” on the property, headed for auction the following day.

The pair filmed themselves on a hired excavator, ripping out the fireplace, pulling down the walls and dragging the toilet outside “much to (their) amusement”.

“Along the way both men are heard to be laughing and egging each other on,” said prosecutor Stephen Devlin.

The brothers were recorded saying, “charge!” and “try harder”, he said.

The pair filmed themselves on a hired excavator, ripping out the fireplace and pulling down the walls. Picture: Supplied.

The pair filmed themselves on a hired excavator, ripping out the fireplace and pulling down the walls. Picture: Supplied.

In another video described to the court, Malcolm pushed a fibreglass water tank stolen from the property down the biggest intersection in Murtoa, filmed by Garry behind in their hire car.

After the demolition, which caused $130,000 in damage, they sent their sister a message reading: “Renovations have begun”.

When the brothers were questioned by local cops on leaving the property, they were “quite flippant” in saying they were tradies doing demolitions and were “f***ing rough”.

Later that night, they headed to the MCG where they posted a selfie on social media with the caption: “Beers at the footy after a hard day’s renovating”.

Mr Devlin said “unsurprisingly” the auction didn’t go ahead the next day.

The property, initially slated to sell for $99,000, was later sold for $7,500.

The brothers were arrested on their return to QLD, where Malcolm was found to have a small amount of cannabis.

The court heard there was years of animosity between the siblings, with Malcolm calling the property’s real estate agent in November 2018 saying his sister “wasn’t going to get a cent”.

He told the woman she may as well stop working because he’d “rather pull it down piece by piece” than for Kerry to get any money.

Malcolm pushed a water tank down the streets of Murtoa.

The stunt was filmed by his brother Garry.

Malcolm and Garry pleaded guilty to criminal damage charges.

Months earlier, the sale fell through when Malcolm stole the hot water service and caused intentional water damage, the court heard.

When a new auction date was listed for March 29, 2019, with pictures of the home, Malcolm texted his brother: “I bet it doesn’t look like that at 12 noon on Friday”.

Malcolm and Garry pleaded guilty to criminal damage charges.

Judge Michael Cahill labelled the brothers’ actions “an entirely irrational response”, with the pair so fixated on denying their sister a $30,000 benefit that they would lose $60,000 and wind up in court.

“Family disputes bring out the worst in people,” Judge Cahill said.

The court heard the family feud was a “deep seated” and emotional dispute, which defence lawyer Mike Anderson said “certainly clouded” his clients’ judgment.

He said the brothers’ actions had created a great deal of distress for the whole family and “the ability now to repair that relationship has been made significantly more difficult”.

The offences carry a maximum 10 year sentence, but the prosecution and defence agreed a fine was appropriate.

The brothers will be sentenced on Friday.