WA man killed by his grandson had taken out restraining order before murder

A Perth court has heard a grandfather’s desperate attempts to protect himself from his schizophrenic grandson via a restraining order were in vain, as the 22-year-old was sentenced on Friday for “senselessly” stabbing the man to death outside his Warnbro house two years ago.

Ky Drew Smith-Marciniak was sentenced in the Supreme Court of WA to a minimum of 19 years in jail for killing 79-year-old Victor Marciniak.

The case was heard in the Supreme Court of WA.Credit: Erin Jonasson

The court was told Smith-Marciniak had separately stabbed his father in the chest at 16 years old, and had a “propensity for violence against immediate family” as well as a “fascination of knives”.

Following his arrest as a teenager over the stabbing of his father, Smith-Marciniak was diagnosed with schizophrenia but later stopped taking his medication. He then began sending abusive and threatening messages to his grandfather in the months leading up to his murder on June 1, 2023.

In March, he texted the 79-year-old: “I hope you fall down the stairs, dumb old c---, I’m going to laugh when you die”.

In April, a text read: “It will be the best day of my life when you die.”

He also made threats towards his mother, an aunt, cousins and their partners.

Marciniak applied for and was granted a restraining order to try and protect him from his grandson, but the 22-year-old would regularly turn up at the elderly man’s Warnbro house to ask for money.

On June 1, 2023, Smith-Marciniak went to his grandfather’s house and, while he was working on a fence, stabbed him in the back of the neck. Marciniak lay bleeding on the ground for two hours before he was found by his partner.

It was originally thought Marciniak had fallen and hit his head and his death was not deemed suspicious, but a post-mortem later revealed a nine-centimetre stab wound to the back of his head.

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CCTV cameras recorded Smith-Marciniak in the area, and he was arrested and charged with his grandfather’s murder.

His lawyer told the court his client’s actions were “irrational”, and that Marciniak had raised his grandson in the same home where he later died.

The court also heard Marciniak’s family had a “deep-seated frustration and anger” because their calls for her help were ignored.

Justice Joseph McGrath said the stabbing was a “pre-meditated attack of violence” that was “senseless”, telling Smith-Marciniak that he “terrorised” his grandfather over the course of many years.

McGrath sentenced Smith-Marciniak to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 19 years. He will be eligible for parole in 2042.

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