Michael Piscioneri: ‘I’m going to shoot you in the face’

A chronically ill Irymple farmer threatened to shoot a water compliance officer in the face, a court has heard.

Lower Murray Water officers were forced to quickly retreat from an Irymple farm.

A chronically ill Irymple farmer who threatened to shoot a water compliance officer in the face has escaped with a fine.

Nichols Point man Michael Piscioneri, 38, pleaded guilty to threatening to inflict serious injury at Mildura Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Two Lower Murray Water officers visited the man’s farm on May 25, 2020 to disconnect his water supply because Piscioneri was overusing his authorised allocation.

The court heard the farm was 100 megalitres in the red.

Police said Piscioneri drove past the compliance officers before going back to pull up next to them.

“You’re not going to do this are you,” Piscioneri said, before becoming argumentative and using explicit language.

The court heard Piscioneri then got out of the car and said: “Right, if you set foot on my farm, I’m going to shoot you in the face.”

Police said the officers believed the threat to be genuine and left.

Piscioneri said in a police interview that he had only threatened to harm himself and he told the compliance officers to “p*** off”.

Piscioneri’s lawyer told the court he wanted to publicly apologise to the victims and accepted they were there doing their job.

The lawyer said Piscioneri had indicated to Lower Murray Water the farm was being sold.

He believed an intent to direct proceeds to the outstanding balance had been treated as acceptable by Lower Murray Water.

The lawyer said a padlock on the water supply was removed days after the incident.

Piscioneri was said to be in a state of “personal and economic stress” due to the death of his father in March, the collapse in the economy and issues with agricultural shipments in China.

The stress was said to have been exacerbated by medication Piscioneri was taking at the time that made him irritable.

The court heard Piscioneri had been diagnosed with a chronic and severe illness that was not curable.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan accepted Piscioneri was under considerable personal pressure, was not armed when the threat was issued and had no prior history.

Mr Coghlan said he would give Piscioneri one opportunity to avoid a conviction.

Piscioneri was released on a promise to be of good behaviour for 12 months and ordered to pay $800 to the court fund.

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Originally published as Michael Piscioneri: ‘I’m going to shoot you in the face’