Bombshell twist ends decade-long brotherly feud over home
After a decade of fighting, the feud between brothers George and Richard Sckaff that erupted over their family home has come to a shock conclusion.
The conflict began 10 years ago in January 2015 – the Origin shield was in New South Wales, Malcolm Turnbull was getting ready to knock Tony Abbott off his throne, and George Sckaff had suddenly received a letter telling him he was being evicted from his home in Sydney’s Dulwich Hill.
The letter had been sent by his brother, Richard.
George was shocked; the pair had grown up together, and were even the godparents of each other’s children.
The house that George was being evicted from was only a few doors down from the pair’s childhood home.
Richard claimed to be the owner of George’s house and his name was on the property deed. But for 25 years, George had lived at the address, and even raised a family there.
According to George, their parents had bought the home. Richard’s name was placed on the deed to keep it safe, given that he was a bank-teller.
The conflict boiled over when George, accompanied by a crew from A Current Affair, attempted to confront Richard in a Western Sydney industrial estate in 2015.
In footage of the confrontation, Richard can be seen pulling up near the crew in a white van, before he emerges brandishing a cricket bat, and runs towards the group.
Richard, clearly enraged by the confrontation, strikes a member of the crew with the bat, and damages some equipment.
“What I saw that night still haunts me, because that’s not the brother I know,” George told A Current Affair.
Eight years after the incident took place, a Supreme Court judge handed down his decision as to who the true owner of the home really was.
The rights were awarded to George.
The conflict could have ended here, but Richard, determined to win, hedged his bets on an appeal.
In a twist, the appeal went through and the presiding judges elected to change the prior decision and award the house to Richard.
“I was absolutely gutted. I felt so sick to the stomach,” George said.
“I thought it was a joke. This can’t be happening, you know, like how can these judges come back with this decision?”
To appeal further would have brought the case to the High Court, and unable to pay the fees, George returned home to pack up the house he’d lived in for 34 years.
“I’ve got a lot of great memories in this house. I raised a family,” George said.
“My mum, if she was alive today, she wouldn’t be very happy.”
Realtor’s drunken crash caught on CCTV
A Sydney real estate agent who got behind the wheel of his BMW after spending four hours at a brewery has been sentenced over the horrific crash.
Man dies after assault involving fork
A homeless man confessed he had ‘f**ked some bloke up in his house and shoved a fork in his head’ only hours after a deadly assault.
Key evidence in anti-Semitic ‘hate crime’
A man who is alleged to have played a role in an anti-Israel graffiti attack in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was identified due to a cast on his arm, prosecutors have claimed.